For Brandon Parent, competing at the B.C. Special Olympics is not about winning medals.
Brandon’s mom Natalie says the Special Olympics and, more specifically, skiing, has helped him to gain confidence, make new friends and work towards independence.
He raced to a silver medal and two golds in the three alpine downhill events including super-G, giant slalom and slalom held at Sun Peaks two weeks ago.
From a young age Brandon’s parents recognized a delay in his development in speech, cognitive ability and social and emotional skills.
He was soon diagnosed as being globally developmentally delayed.
As avid skiers, Ed and Natalie introduced Brandon to skiing around the age of six.
He loved it.
“I taught him at first, he was limited in his vocal and comprehension skills, but it didn’t take him long to pick up skiing,” says Natalie.
After about four years of skiing at Silver Star, Natalie learned about the Special Olympics club and Silver Star adaptive programs.
Brandon started skiing with both clubs and he has grown not only as a skier, but as an independent person.
“Ed and I are confident that we can let Brandon go out on his own and he won’t have a problem.
He knows the whole mountain inside and out,” explains Natalie.
Natalie says that skiing has given Brandon a sense of empowerment and belonging.
“It’s super exciting to see him do so well, he meets his friends at the hill and we don’t see him for a few hours.”
In the giant slalom, Brandon skied to first place, finishing five seconds ahead of his closest competitor.
His mom describes him as a big tall kid, but is amazed at how graceful he is on skis.
The three-day event was kicked off at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops of Feb. 19.
The alpine events took place over the following two days, and the games were concluded with the closing ceremony and super hero dance for coaches and athletes only.
“To be honest with you, I think the super hero dance might have been Brandon’s favourite part of the weekend… he dressed up as a Power Ranger,” says Natalie.
Natalie is hopeful that Brandon will continue to ski and continue to grow as a person.
“We’re not surprised by what Brandon has achieved,” she says.
“We just can’t put limits on what he can or should do, with growth and determination he can do anything.”
