Delta's top young athletes won't have go very far to take part in the BC Summer Games hosted in Surrey July 19-22.

And many of the 110 representing this region made another short trip to Delta Municipal Hall Tuesday night (July 17) to get an official send off from elected representatives and sports organization officials.

"We are truly blessed to have such great talent in so many sports," said Mayor Lois Jackson in her address to the group gathered in the municipal hall foyer.

Jackson reminded the athletes of the games' motto "unleash your potential."

"I know that each one of you has tremendous potential," she said, "and that every one of you will dream big, challenge yourselves, and strive to achieve your very personal best."

Jackson added that Deltans, "couldn't be more proud of you."

Independent MLA for Delta-South, Vicki Huntington, told the athletes they "should be proud of the discipline you have shown in making yourselves available to your coaches, and making yourselves the expert sportsmen and women you have become," she said.

Tsawwassen's Mark Pearson, a member of Canada's Olympic field hockey team member and BC Summer Games participant in 2000, said the event reminded him of the send-off given to him and his teammates prior to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

"It was funny, I was going through my bedroom the other day cleaning things out because my mom wanted me out of the bedroom, and I found a box that had old pictures, the uniform. It was stuff that I'd saved because at the time the 2000 BC Summer Games was the biggest thing for me, it was a huge highlight."

Pearson told the group to savour the moment, "Think about what it means, and try and learn as much as you can, and hopefully it will inspire you to continue with your sport, and you never know where you'll end up."