Kalon Young is a former CIG player who just couldn’t get enough of The Games! He began competing in the Canadian Improv Games with his highschool’s junior team, and worked his way up to co-captaining the senior team at Nationals! Since graduating, Kalon has gone on to volunteer with CIG as a referee and has fallen in love with The Games in a whole new way.

What initially inspired you to get involved with the Canadian Improv Games, and what keeps you coming back each season?

I would say that definitely it’s the energy. I’ve never had a performance experience that feels like CIG. Once I started, I just wanted to be there again and again and again. After I stopped competing in the games, I think I couldn’t help myself from coming back!

How do you feel your involvement with the Canadian Improv Games has impacted the players and the community?

As a volunteer, it’s been so great to be able to come to The Games and see people again —especially people that you were training with, or competing with in the past —because it lets them know that CIG doesn’t end when you stop competing! It’s a game that can stick with you for as long as you let it. And you can keep giving back the same energy that you gave to the game, even as you grow outside of it. 

How has your role within the Canadian Improv Games evolved since you first got involved?

When I first started volunteering, I was helping with social media stuff. And then later, I also got to volunteer in person, which was great to be able to referee. I think it’s just been great to feel like I have some part in helping CIG grow and be the beast that it is!

You’ve been a player in the CIG, and now recently a volunteer! What are your favourite memories from both eras of your CIG life?

My favorite volunteer memory is definitely getting to do wacky stuff on stage as a ref! One night of competition was Valentine’s Day themed, I had some angel wings on, I got to shoot a love cannon bazooka. I think seeing the planning that went into making something fun like that happen for each of the shows, and making all of the suggestions a fun little catch and grab was amazing to be a part of, and then even better to see it happen live on stage! It was awesome to have fun with the games and see how much everyone in the audience enjoyed it. On the flip side, as a player, my favourite part was seeing the random and wacky theme delivery! One time, there was like an inflatable wig that I was picking numbers off of, fishing themes out of a bucket… Like, I think that always amazes me every time, because those are things that don’t have to happen, but that I see people put in that extra effort to just make sure that we can have the funniest experience possible. 

What do you hope students or players take away from their experience in the Canadian Improv Games?

I hope that they learn to trust themselves. I think that’s the one thing that CIG teaches you the most: that you can come up with great ideas, and that you just need to take risks and think later, because offers can go away just like that. And that can be applied to life in general! When it comes to just taking opportunities that may come your way and not hesitating to jump on them because then you can miss making a really fun or funny moment.

This fall, we’re calling on our incredible community to help us reach our goal of gaining 100 monthly donors through the Show Up for Canadian Improv Games campaign. As a registered charity, the CIG relies on your support to keep enriching the lives of youth through improvisational theatre. Your donation, no matter the size, will directly contribute to sustaining this life-changing program. Are you ready to show up for the next generation of improvisers? Click here to become a CIG monthly donor today and help us keep The Games alive!