'Don't give up on yourself': Winnipeg triathlete with U.S. scholarship to compete in Canada Summer Games

There are only two U.S. schools offering scholarships to top-tier triathlon teams and Kyla Roy, an 18-year-old Winnipegger, got a full ride from one of them.

"Triathlon scholarships are not very common right now," Roy said.

Since the National Collegiate Athletic Association recognized the sport in 2015, only Arizona State and East Tennessee State universities have offered scholarships for Division 1 teams the highest level in the association.

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Roy and one other Canadian triathlete will start at Arizona State in the fall. She'll start the 30-hour road trip with herfather on Aug. 8.

But first, she'll represent Manitoba on home-turf at this year's Canada Summer Games. Her last event is just four days before she leaves.

Triathlon is a three-part event comprisingone leg each ofswimming, biking and running.

Roy will get to the starting line on Monday, July 31 for her first event.

"In that moment, I just can't wait to start and start swimming. Once I'm in the water, I just got as hard as I can," she said.

She focuses on one leg of the event at a time, she said. When she's in the water, she thinks about swimming. As soon as she's out, she's thinking about making a fast transition to her bike.

"If you have a bad swim or something, you have to kind of like reset and be in the moment and think, like, 'Oh, I can do this,'" she said. "It's just, like, don't give up on yourself, you know?"

Mental peace is a crucial part of her game. Between competitions, she talks to a sport psychologist about her doubts and self-confidence.

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"It's super important," she said. "You can just psyche yourself out so much if you aren't in the right mental space, and just talking to someone and saying stuff out loud really helps."

Roy started competing in triathlons in children's events called Kids of Steel when she was seven. She was inspired by her ffather, a former triathlete who competes in Ironman races.

"I love triathlon because I love crossing the finish line knowing I gave it my all, and meeting new people from across the world is pretty cool as well.

She competed in her first Canada Summer Games in 2013, won gold at the Western Canada Summer Games in 2015 and has twice represented Canada in world events.

Roy also secured a third-place finish in the 2017 CAMTRI North American Junior Championships in Florida.

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She thinks the sport is growing, slowly but surely although she often has to explain the sport to people, she said.

"When Simon Whitfield went to the Sydney 2000 Olympics and won the first medal for triathlon, that's kind of when it started to take off and it's just been growing slowly ever since," she said.

Roy said the thing she's looking forward most to having her friends and family cheer her on in her hometown inthe Games.

"The thing I'm least looking forward to about the Canada Games is probably when they're over," she said."It'll be a sad day."

The Canada Summer Games started on July 28 and end on Aug. 13.