The Pin Trading Circuit
Pin trading is considered the 20th official sport here in Prince George at the Canada Winter Games – it’s the sport that is fully accessible, gender and age neutral and dominates the central lobby of the Official Canada Games Merchandise Store (Commonwealth Health Centre, 1302 7th Ave.), near the downtown Games Plaza.
Krassi, the pin trader, as he likes to call himself, is no stranger to this unique sport. Getting started back in 1968 on a family trip to the Grenoble Olympic Games, Krassi began his pin trading training as a soccer player, where players often exchanged pin “badges” with each other, taking home a memento from each match.
His training has snowballed into a high performance sport, taking him to Olympic Games all over the world, and bringing him here to Prince George from Vancouver for the Canada Games. His pin-trading table has attracted many “traders” who come to him for the coveted items, like the Team BC 3-piece Canoe pin, which has been the source of many high quality exchanges. “It’s not about possessing the pins, its about the social conversations that come with each trade, creating new friends all over the world,” he says about why he trades. “Through pins, you get to know a lot of people and places and as a result, my home is now a museum of sport.”
While Krassi is very open to helping athletes and local kids get started, he also puts some pins on his target list, and holds them close once he finds them. Even the local mother whose daughter traded away 1 of the 3 pieces of the Team BC canoe set couldn’t sway him with a trade.
However, he does share the wealth though, in a different way. He lends out his pin collections to friends at local schools and legion halls across Vancouver to spread awareness about these sport events and to build the pin-trading legacy. All it takes is one pin to start the snowball…why not make it a Team BC pin!
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Written by Katrina Galas, Team BC Mission Staff