Sport is the core of the BC Games and the reason participants, volunteers, and partners come together every two years. This competitive multi-sport experience is an essential part of the sport development pathway for athletes, coaches, and officials in British Columbia.

The sports in the Games are selected through the Core Sport policy, which showcases how Provincial Sport Organizations fit the Games within their overall sport development plans.

The BC Games are high profile competitive opportunities for Provincial Sport Organizations to incorporate into their Long Term Athlete/Player Development, which are based on the Canadian Sport for Life framework designed to improve the quality of sport and physical activity in Canada linking sport, education, recreation, and health while aligning community, provincial, and national programming.  The BC Summer and BC Winter Games are identified as being in the higher end of the Learning to Train or lower end of the Training to Train stage.

Achieving excellence is a focus of the competitions however; building lifelong skills, experiences, and knowledge through sport is an essential part of the experience.