by Betty Bardswich
MINDEMOYA—The activity room at the Mindemoya Missionary Church was full recently as coaches, volunteers and families gathered to take part in a celebration of the efforts of the Island’s Special Olympians at the winter national games in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.
These athletes took part in the curling and snowshoeing events and came home with five gold medals, one silver and two bronze.
“Thank you for putting Manitoulin on the map,” Community Living Manitoulin board member Karlene Scott said to curlers Regan Millsap, Rebecca Strain, Andrew Splawanyk, Randy Corbiere and Jeff Panamick and to Dayne Tipper, Matthew Bedard and Kelsey Mellan, who made up the snowshoeing team, as the celebration began.
Volunteer, coach and Manitoulin Special Olympics (MSO) coordinator Janet Anning also spoke at the gathering and began by thanking Judy Olacke, the coach of the snowshoeing team, for organizing the celebration and for her coaching efforts which saw nine athletes moving on to the Provincial championship in Sault Ste Marie. Ms. Anning also thanked Ms. Olacke for her efforts in securing grants for the Special Olympians.
“We are very appreciative of our trails at Community Living Manitoulin (CLM),” Ms Anning added. “We made a trail on the inside field part, a 1.5 kilometre trail. We mulched the trail so it would be good for the winter and it was awesome for our snowshoers.” Ms. Anning went on to say that the dedication to training enabled the athletes to run their races faster than they had done before and mentioned that the Special Olympics (SO) World Games are to be held in Austria.
Ms. Anning told the audience that interest in SO began 10 years ago with athletes starting off with bowling. “It then went on to track and then softball,” Ms. Anning explained, “and then curling with Nancy Leeson, the coach for curling, sending two teams to the Soo. Curling has grown. Jan McQuay came on board and taught us how to curl. Now we are at the top of Canada and getting a silver medal. This progress is such an amazing thing. To be the best curler you can be.” Ms. Anning explained that there is not a world championship for SO curling as Canada is the only country to have this although the United States is coming on board. Three countries are needed for an SO world games in each category.
Ms. Leeson also spoke at the celebration, saying, “Thank you to the parents for standing up for me. Newfoundland was wonderful. Our curlers played a team with 15 years experience and they won silver. Thank you all for the experience. It has been wonderful.”
Jan McQuay spoke to The Expositor about her experience teaching curling to the SO athletes. “What I remember is that they were a pleasure to work with,” Ms. McQuay said. “They were always upbeat and eager to get things right. Before going on the ice for practice, we formed a big circle to do exercises and everyone got to lead one exercise of their choice. Then we would recite the motto together, which is ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt,’ a good motto for any endeavour. We had enough players for two teams, so mostly they played against each other but sometimes for experience and variety, curlers from the Mindemoya club played against the teams. Everyone enjoyed those games.”
The SO athletes received certificates from MPP Michael Mantha and MP Carol Hughes with a letter from Ms. Hughes read to praise these special individuals. Athletes Reagan Millsap and Randy Corbiere thanked everyone for their support. “We had a wonderful time in Newfoundland,” Mr. Corbiere said. “Thank you for coming out tonight.”
Several of the participants at the celebration were wearing brightly coloured scarves and Ms. Anning explained that the scarves were handed out at the registration desk for the games in Newfoundland. “Over 4,000 scarves were knitted,” Ms. Anning said. “Some of them have a little message in the scarf asking people to send a message back saying where they are from and what they did for Special Olympics. Athletes as well as family and friends got the scarves.”
The celebration ended with a thank you to all the Islanders who supported the athletes as well as to Kelly Timmermans and 100.7 FM The Island for sponsoring the teams year after year and a reminder that Bluegrass in the Country, an SO annual fundraiser, will be held in Providence Bay June 10, 11 and 12.
