Quesnel Special Olympics will be marking its 25th anniversary in style by hosting an awards show and dance this Saturday (April 14).
Athletes who took part in the winter sports program will have a chance to take a prize home, and one coach will be honoured, too.
The Glen McLeod Award will be given to the coach who demonstrates a kind and caring attitude and provides outstanding support to athletes of all levels and abilities.
The athletic committee puts out a nomination list form to the coaching volunteers, and the athletes vote on the winner.
The ceremony will start at 6 p.m. in the Elks Lodge.
Snacks will be served, a professional DJ has been hired, and there will be cake.
A basketball game preceding the awards will take place at Correllieu Secondary School at 1:30 p.m.
According to Rick Prosk, program co-ordinator for Quesnel Special Olympics, it’s going to be a bit of a free for all.
“We’re inviting any athletes who want to play, so they don’t necessarily have to have played basketball this year,” he explains.
“So any athletes that want to play will play on the athletes team and any coaches, parents, supporters or RCMP members who are coming will play on the coaches team.”
Prosk is expecting benches of 25 or 30, so many substitutions and quick shifts are in order.
In previous years, the game has just involved RCMP members, but in honour of the 25th anniversary, they decided to open it up to everyone.
Quesnel’s Special Olympics group got its start in 1993.
The city was hosting the Northern BC Winter Games that year, and there was a proposal for several Special Olympics events to be held during the competition.
At the time, Quesnel didn’t have a Special Olympics organization; the Winter Games was the impetus to get it started.
After all, if the city was hosting the games, it made sense for local athletes to be entered into competition.
Prosk says that these awards are a milestone to reflect on their success as an organization and how far Special Olympics has come.
“It was only in the late Seventies that institutions were closed, and so it’s really only been a little more than 25 years that people with intellectual disabilities have actually been part of the community.
“Prior to that, many of them lived in institutions down in the Lower Mainland or or in Kamloops and really had no connection to their home community or to their families.”
He pointed out that it is not just sports programs and the chance to train and compete that is on offer.
“We’ve also given people with intellectual disabilities a chance to develop their social skills and their employment skills, so many of them are working now in the community and really a part of what’s going on,” he says.
“So that’s a lot of the reason to celebrate.”
