Special Olympians from Salmon Arm and Enderby will be representing the province as part of Team B.C. at the Special Olympics Canada 2018 Summer Games in Antigonish, N.S..
Tessa Allwood (basketball), Nick Anchikoski, Carina Chu, Tristan Harms-Popham and Kathleen Nelson (four of B.C.s. nine bocce athletes) will travel to Nova Scotia at the end of July to compete in the Summer Games. 174 athletes, 54 coaches and 16 from across the province will make up Team B.C. in the 2018 games.
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These athletes won gold in their respective divisions last year in Kamloops at the Special Olympics B.C. Provincial Summer Games. Tessa Allwood is part of a B.C. multi-city basketball team as well.
This Summer’s National Games are being hosted in Antigonish from July 31 to Aug. 4, the second time the Canadian Special Olympics has visited the province.
The Games are a national sporting event for competitive athletes with intellectual disabilities, held in four-year cycles for winter and summer games. Each athlete must qualify at the local and provincial level before coming to the National Games. The Special Olympics Canada 2018 Summer Games is also a qualifying event for athletes to represent Canada at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi.
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There are nine sports featured at the Games: athletics (track and field), basketball, bocce, golf, rhythmic gymnastics, powerlifting, soccer, softball and swimming.
More than 3,000 spectators are expected at the Games, in addition to more than 900 athletes, 290 coaches, officials and mission staff, and 600 volunteers.
For more information on this year’s National Games go to the Special Olympics B.C. website: www.specialolympics.bc.ca.
Submitted by Ernie Nelson
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