Hockey, soccer athletes compete at Special Olympics
Crestwood, Holy Cross teams win gold in floor hockey events, both by a one-goal margin
Two local high schools, Crestwood and Holy Cross, brought home gold medals won by their traditional and unified floor hockey teams Wednesday during the 2018 Special Olympics Ontario School Championships (SOOSC)
The final score for Crestwood vs. Sir Guy Carleton was 5-4, with Crestwood winning by one. Holy Cross also won by one with the final score 6-5.
At Fleming Colleg,e both traditional and unified soccer teams played their championship games.
For each of the team sports there are two divisions, unified and traditional.
The teams in the unified division have a range of athletes, with and without intellectual disabilities. The teams in the traditional division include only athletes with intellectual disabilities.
On fields one to three the traditional teams played and the unified teams played on fields four to six.
Each field had its own pool of teams and from each pool a bronze, a silver and a gold medal were handed out.
“The pace is different. Games like this, the kids are still learning and playing. They are having fun but also learning so there is a lot of teaching in comparison to a soccer game in leagues other than Special Olympics,” explained Liam Williston, a referee of the traditional games played on field three.
The first match on field one, Drewry Secondary School vs. East Northumberland Secondary School, a high school from Brighton played a dominating game, winning 8-1.
Drewry continued to dominate pool play later in the morning with a 7-0 win over Beamsville District Secondary School and a 4-0 win over E.S.C NouvelleAlliance.
On field two, Sir Guy Carleton S.S from Ottawa had a tough match in the morning with a 0-5 loss against Loyalist Collegiate But, later in the afternoon the team managed to make it into the semi-finals.
Parents of Carolyn Perrin, an athlete for Sir Guy Carleton, were thrilled to see all the kids having a good time.
“I think the whole process is a bit of a surprise for the kids. My daughter doesn’t normally play and this is such a good opportunity for her to get out and enjoy playing a sport,” said Carolyn’s mother, Patricia Buffam.
Field three had a combination of six teams that were split into two pools. White Pines H.S and Sydenham High School got a bye into the gold medal by winning all their morning games.
On the unified fields, St. Peter Secondary School from Peterborough played on field four and finished pool play with 2 losses and a tie.
Another Peterborough team was Adam Scott Collegiate on field five. Adam Scott finished pool play with two wins and a tie.