City hosting 1,250 Special Olympics athletes
Special Olympics Ontario School Championships
Peterborough will open its arms to the largest Special Olympics event in Ontario in 2018.
The Special Olympics Ontario School Championships will bring 1,250 athletes and coaches from 85 schools across the province to Peterborough on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Athletes will compete in five sports including basketball at the Trent Athletics Centre and St. Peter Secondary School; bocce ball at Trent University; floor hockey at the Kinsmen Civic Centre, soccer at the Fleming Sports Field Complex and track and field at the Thomas A. Stewart Athletic Field.
There will also be opening ceremonies at the Memorial Centre on Tuesday starting at 7:30 p.m. and closing ceremonies also at the PMC on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. followed by a dance.
It’s the largest Special Olympics event the city has hosted since the SOO Provincial Spring Games in 2004.
“The event we hosted in 2004 was open to anyone from eight to 80,” said Ray Walt, chairman of the local organizing committee.
“This is something they started four or five years ago where they have a school championship. All the athletes are between 13 and 21 and they’re all attending a school. It gives them an opportunity like any other generic athlete who goes on to COSSA or OFSAA.”
The athletes earned their way to the championship through a series of 61 qualifiers held across the province. There will be about 80 local athletes participating from Adam Scott, Crestwood, Holy Cross, Kenner and St. Peter high schools.
“It’s a great opportunity for the athletes to come and showcase their abilities and also for our local athletes to participate in front of their local community,” Walt said.
The cost of the event will be covered by proceeds from the Law Enforcement Torch Run and some sponsorship. Volunteers are the event’s lifeblood.
“We have 300 registered volunteers,” Walt said.
“Some are there for the day. Some are there for a few hours. They are involved in all areas from helping unload suitcases when the athletes arrive to serving box lunches to seating athletes at the opening ceremonies to serving as officials and scorekeepers. We have a medical team as well through one of our local paramedics.”
Walt says 13 sub-committees helped organize everything.
“They’re doing everything from accommodations to the sports to everything in between,” Walt said.
“They’ll each have 20 to 30 volunteers working with them. It’s definitely not a one-man show, it’s a team effort.”
The team events include both Traditional, involving Special Olympic athletes only, and Unified divisions. Unified is where two student-athletes serving as peer tutors join the Special Olympians on the court or field.
“The mentors are great kids but they are not always necessarily the best athlete. Even if they are the idea is they are passing off and involving all the kids so we don’t have someone who is like your Michael Jordan as part of the team,” Walt said.
“The kids all seem to understand that and pass off the ball.”
Ontario Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell will participate in the opening ceremonies and Next Generation Leahy will headline the entertainment.
The closing ceremonies will conclude with the Special Olympics flag and torch being passed onto organizers of the Special Olympics World School Games to be held in Toronto next year.
The athletes will be boarded at Fleming College and Trent University student residences.
Events will run on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to about 3 p.m. and on Wednesday from 9 a.m. to about 3:30 p.m. There is no admission fee and the community is encouraged to attend.