Athletes were on the basketball court vying for a spot at the Special Olympics provincial games today.
For the first time ever, a Special Olympics Ontario qualifier for secondary school sports was held in Timmins, with the three-on-three basketball games being played at Roland Michener in South Porcupine.
Nine teams competed in two divisions to qualify for a spot at the provincial event in Peterborough at the end of the school year. The teams were from Roland Michener, Iroquois Falls Secondary School, and Temiskaming District Secondary School.
“It’s pretty cool because a lot of these kids don’t always get the opportunity to represent their school at a sporting event, so this is essentially the Special Olympics version of OFSAA,” said Chris Mehak, school event co-ordinator for Special Olympics Ontario.
The two divisions are traditional and unified.
Mehak explained that the traditional is entirely Special Olympics athletes or individuals with an intellectual disability.
In the unified division, he said the teams are half Special Olympics athletes and half mainstream partners, who don’t have an intellectual disability. He said the teams are matched by ability.
"We have some very high ability Special Olympics athletes and we’re matching them with their peers from the mainstream program to play as one team,” he said.
“The idea of a good unified team is you can’t tell who has an intellectual disability and who doesn’t. It’s a pretty cool way to do it.”
With the first successful qualifier under their belt, the program could grow.
Mehak said there was interest from other schools to participate.
“We would hope to have more teams here next year, we’d also hope to have another sport, if possible,” he said.
Later this year, the organization will be back in town for the elementary school sport festival. Athletes competing today were also given information about the Special Olympics community programs offered in town.
