TORONTO, ON, May 17, 2012 – Special Olympics Canada announced today the names of the 141 athletes, coaches and mission staff who will represent Canada at the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games. Billed as the world’s largest sporting event in 2013, these winter games will be held in PyeongChang, South Korea, also host of the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, from January 29 to February 5, 2013.

The full roster can be found online at www.specialolympics.ca (PDF format)

The eight-day competition will bring together nearly 3,300 athletes from as many as 120 countries to this mountain resort with world-class competition venues.

“It doesn’t get any bigger than this within the Special Olympics community, and the 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games are an incredible opportunity for our Canadian athletes,” said Sharon Bollenbach, vice-president of sport with Special Olympics Canada. “These world games are also important because they bring attention to the talents and capabilities of people with an intellectual disability, helping to change attitudes and to break down barriers that can exclude them from full participation in their communities.”

Athletes on the national team are a mix of veterans and others who will compete at the international level for the very first time. Each has moved through successive levels of competition to qualify; first provincials, and then nationals. Final qualification for the 2013 national team was based on performance at the 2012 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games, held earlier this year in St. Albert and Jasper, Alberta. Those selected to the national team will compete in six of the seven sports, including alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, snowshoeing, speed skating and floor hockey. Canadians have contested in this latter sport since the very first Special Olympics international competition was held in 1968 in Chicago, Illinois.

“These athletes are among the top of their field, and we know that they will make our country very proud,” said Jennifer Campbell, chef de mission. Campbell, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, returns as the team’s chef de mission for a second time. With their selection, Team Canada athletes will be supported by a strong national training program. Launched in 1998, the training program gives athletes a formalized approach to training and preparing for world games. It is a model for Special Olympics programs across North and South America.

Athletes commit to an enhanced weekly training regimen and take part in all aspects of the conditioning and training program: physical and mental training; committing to a healthy lifestyle; attending all team functions, including multi-day sport-specific training camps and staging; and being role models for other Special Olympics athletes, both on and off the field of play. They are also supported by a tremendous network of resources leading up to and during the competition, including mission and coaching staff, a team physician, mental trainer, fitness instructors, nutritionists, and motivational speakers.

The Canadian delegation also enjoys considerable year-round support from its 21 national sponsors and partners, including the Government of Canada.

About Special Olympics Canada

Established in 1969, the Canadian chapter of this international movement is dedicated to enriching the lives of Canadians with an intellectual disability through sport. Operating in all Canadian provinces and territories except Nunavut, this grassroots movement reaches beyond the sphere of sport to empower individuals, change attitudes, and build communities. From twoyear
olds to mature adults, there are more than 35,000 children, youth, and adults with an intellectual disability registered in Special Olympics year-round sport programs across Canada. They are supported by more than 17,100 volunteers, including more than 13,500 trained coaches. For more information, connect with us on Facebook and Twitter (handle:
SpecialOCanada).

About the Special Olympics World Winter Games

The 2013 Special Olympics World Winter Games will be held from January 29 to February 6 in PyeongChang, South Korea, the hub of winter sports. It’s expected to be the largest Special Olympics World Winter Games, featuring seven categories of sports including alpine skiing, cross country skiing, snow boarding, snowshoeing, speed skating, figure skating, and floor hockey. The Games will demonstrate the unity that comes with overcoming barriers of race, religion, ethnicity and economic and education level. More information is available at http://www.2013sopoc.org .

For more information, please contact:
Susana Petti
Communications Officer, Team Canada
& Director, Marketing & Public Relations
Special Olympics Canada
T: (416) 927-9050, ext. 4383
E: spetti@specialolympics.ca

This event will begin at 9:30am and end at 12 noon.  Pizza and Drinks will be provided for lunch.

Any clients or athletes wishing to participate must register with Ann Marie Hogan at 739 – 6017 by Thursday, May 10th, 2012. 

Please note that all bowlers must be picked up by 12:15pm

All athletes participating in the event will be divided into teams – and not necessairly their club teams! Clubs from all across the island can bring their Floor Hockey athletes to the tournament and be assured that everyone will get an opportunity to play and have an awesome experience!

Take a look at the tentative schedule:

SONL Provincial Floor Hockey Tournament: May 12/2012

12:00 PM  — Lunch
12:30 PM  — Warm-up and coaches meeting
1:00 PM   — Game # 1     Team 1  vs Team 2
1:30 PM   — Game # 2    Team # 3 vs Team # 4
2:00 PM   — Game # 3     Team # 1 vs Team # 3
2:30 PM   — Game # 4     Team # 2 vs Team # 4
3:00 PM   — Game # 5     Team # 1 vs Team # 4
3:30 PM   — Game # 6      Team #2 vs Team # 3
4:00 PM   — Bronze Medal Game
4:30 PM   — Gold Medal Game
5:00 PM   — Medal Presentations
5:30 PM   — Departures

Each athlete is expected to have the following equipment:

1. CSA approved hockey helmet and full metal cage or shield.
2. Gloves
3. Elbow pads
4. Knee and/or shin pads
5. Jock
6. Water bottle
7. Towel
8. Indoor sneakers

Special Olympics is about the power of inclusion, and we’d like to include you in our annual Festival celebration!

CELEBRITY BREAKFAST – Tickets $100
New this year, the Festival kicks off with our Celebrity Breakfast Buffett in the Clovelly Gazebo

OPEN HOUSE – No Ticket Required
Drop by the Clovelly Clubhouse between 12 and 3pm to visit our silent auction, say hi to the athletes, enjoy the music and grab a bite at Nineteen Restaurant (net proceeds will be donated to the cuase)

A SPECIAL NIGHT – Tickets $150
A potpourri of fun not to be missed – Satellite Parties- throughout the city, the Main Event in the Clovelly Clubhouse, and our new After Party Concert in the Gazebo!

For tickets and information
CALL 738.1923 OR EMAIL SONL@SONL.CA

Tickets are $3.00 and include a hot dog and a drink. Canteen services will also be available.

Everyone is welcome!

Please take moment to read a wonderful article written about an excellent volunteer: http://www.gfwadvertiser.ca/Sports/2012-04-20/article-2958962/Coach%2C-volunteer%2C-and-friend/1

We look forward to welcoming new coaches into our community!

Jeremy Mueller, of the St. John’s club, has recently returned from the National Winter Games held in St. Albert, Alberta.  Jeremy excelled at these games in his chosen winter sport of snowshoeing and came home a medalist many times over!  Jeremy competed in the 100m, 200m, 400m and the team relay events – and came home with the Gold 4 times over!  A perfect record; which helped earn him Athlete of the Week for The Telegram.

Jeremy has worked extremely hard over the past year since being selected for the NL Training Squad and as a result showed improvements in his physical fitness, mental readiness as well as his improvements in his snowshoeing.  Jeremy, along with the other members of his snowshoeing team, had participated in training camps for the year leading up to the National Winter Games; and when it came time to perform – Jeremy excelled!!
We are so pleased with Jeremy’s success for this year; however Jeremy has proven before that he has what it takes to be an elite athlete.  Jeremy has been involved with Special Olympics since the age of 13 and over the years has participated in many different sports including snowshoeing, swimming, curling, bowling, track and field, and bocce.   He has competed at every Provincial Games since 1996 and was chosen to as a swimmer to go the National Summer Games held in Sudbury, Ontario in 1998.  His success at these Games (2 Silvers) allowed him to be placed on that National team competing at the World Summer Games in North Carolina in 1999!!  Jeremy came home from those World Games with a bronze medal!   His dedication to his sport included training for the swimming event for 3 successive year; 1997 Provinicals, 1998 Nationals and 1999 Worlds!

With Jeremy’s past successes and recent accomplishments we are proud to know he has been recognized and nominated by Molson Coors for Athlete of the Month!  We wish Jeremy lots of luck when the finalists are announced on Thursday, April 12th at 12:30pm.

If you’d like to see pictures of the event please visit us on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/TeamSONL

All eighteen athletes had a great competition and we congratulate them on their successes; we were even more please to say meet 4 new snowshoe athletes at this meet.  The day started off with the 100-m race which all eighteen athletes competed in.  As this was a smaller competition it was decided to have “open” divisioning – which means there was no split between male and female racers.

RESULTS:
Division 1:
Gold – Sarah Moore
Silver – Chantal Verge
Bronze – Sarah Bursey

Division 2:
Gold – Amanda Collins
Silver – Allison Reid
Silver – Kim O’Neill
Bronze – Robyn Cater

Divison 3:
Gold – Suzie Colbourne
Silver – Bradley  Hurley

Division 4:
Gold – Travis Sceviour
Silver – Daniel Ralph
Bronze – David Keough

Division 5:
Gold – Floressa Harris

Division 6:
Gold – Johnny Philpott
Silver – Michael Harris

Division 7:
Gold - Louis Gunn
Silver – Daniel Horwood
Bronze – Travis Lidstond

The next race of the day was the 200-m division.

RESULTS – 200-m

Division 1:
Gold – Sarah Moore
Silver – Allison Reid
Bronze – Sarah Bursey

Division 2:
Gold – Chantal Verge
Silver – Robyn Cater

Division 3:
Gold – David Keough
Silver – Bradley Hurley
Bronze – Amanda Collins

Division 4:
Gold – Floressa Harris
Silver – Travis Sceviour
Bronze – Suzie Colbourne

Division 5:
Gold – Johnny Philpott
Silver – Michael Harris

Division 6:
Gold – Kim O’Neil
Silver – Travis Lidstone

The last competitive race of the day was a short 50-m!

RESULTS – 50m

Division 1
Gold – Travis Lidstond
Silver – Daniel Ralph

Division 2
Gold – Sarah Bursey
Silver – Robyn Cater

Division 3
Gold – Sarah Moore
Silver – Chantal Verge

Divison 4
Gold – Kim O’Neil
Silver – Amanda Collins
Bronze – Allison Reid

Division 5
Gold – Bradley Hurley
Silver – Louis Gunn

Division 6
Gold – Daniel Ralph
Silver – David Keough
Bronze – Suzie Colbourne

Division 7
Gold – Floressa Harris
Silver – Travis Sceviour

Division 8
Gold – Michael Harris
Silver – Johnny Philpott

The final race of the day was a fun relay with sixteen athletes participating; each team of four was a mixed gender team and the relays 4X50m was a great way to finish of the racing!

After the competition was done athletes, coaches and volunteers all retired to the Father McCarthy Hall for a meal provided by Mary Brown’s.  Mary Brown’s is a national sponsort for Special Olympics and we were delighted to welcome the owner/operator and manager of Mary Brown’s Gander.

Brian Rogers, the voice of the IceCaps, was the MC for the day and the athletes were thrilled to hear him address the audience.  Each Special Olympic athlete was seated at a table for a wonderful lunch with one of the IceCaps members.   Danny Williams attended the event and spoke to the success that Team SONL had at the recent Special Olympics National Winter Games.

Special Olympics Newfoundland and Labrador was thrilled with the generous donation of $20,000 from the IceCaps and the athletes were ecstatic to receive a special commemorative Ice Caps scarf – which is not available for purchase making it extra special to each athlete who attended.

The first annual luncheon between the Special Olympics athletes and IceCaps athletes was deemed an excellent success by all those who attended and SONL looks forward to a continued relationship with the IceCaps Care Foundation!!

Check out: http://ntv.ca/video/?p=20920 for short video about the event!

Wow! What a fabulous week! Twenty-seven of  our athletes travelled to St. Albert, AB for the Special Olympics National
Winter Games.  The athletes and thirteen  mission staff arrived on Monday, February 27^th after a long day
travel.  They were tired but excited to be in Alberta to begin their Games experience!

Our team varied from sixteen to sixty with  first time National athletes alongside experience three, five and even seven time
National veterans!  However it doesn’t matter if it is your first time or eighth time going to a National Games – the experience in unforgettable and life changing!  Our  Team had excellent performances off and on the field.  They were all wonderful ambassadors for our  province as well as proving their athletic fortitude on their field of play!

Our lone figure skater, Paolo Paiement, competed in the Level 4 division.  He was calm, cool and confident on the ice during the technical portion of his competition.  Paolo was a joy to watch and engaged the crowd at the end of the routine by holding his hand to his ear  asking for more applause!  After his  freeskate on Friday, March 2^nd, Paolo skated onto the podium for the
Bronze medal!  Congratulations Paolo!!

Our 16 member hockey team (with both our  oldest and youngest members) came to the Games ready to compete.  For ten team members – this was their third  National Winter Games.  They were high off their gold medal Floor Hockey win in 2008 and their bronze medal Soccer win  in 2010.  They were pumped, prepared and ready to win!  Eyes were on their divisioning games – the games played to decide which teams should compete against each other for the round robins.  Their performance there was standout and officials decided that they would not be competing in the “C” division (where they had won their gold in 2008) but instead should be moved up to division “B”.  Matthew Kelly, defenseman for the team said “the whole team worked really hard.  We moved up a division which was a big step for us!”  They faced stiff competition from the powerhouse teams in the larger provinces like the two different Ontario teams they played against in the round robin.  They lost 6 – 3 in the bronze medal game to
Ontario; however they are now seeded as the 7^th ranking floor hockey team in Canada.  As for the difference between “C” division and “B” division; Andrew Hynes, forward, says ““ Going from C to B division is  unreal.  The B division hockey is full out up your face hockey which is good!”

Our two cross country skiers – from opposite ends of the province did extremely well out the “new” track.  They faced some challenges as St. Albert did not have enough snow to host the event in their original location and changed courses two weeks out.  The staff from the organizing committee did a wonderful job securing a second location and everyone was pleased that the event got to go ahead! There was fear of cancellation at one point!! None-the-less the new courses had some challenges that our athletes
faced and triumphed! Daniel Moores from Corner Brooked skied into the Bronze medal position during his 1-km race on Day 1 of the Games.  Megan Hounsell of Mount Pearl showed her mettle in the long distance 500-m race by receiving the Bronze medal on Day 3.  This was a follow up from her extremely fast short ski 100-m race where she won the Gold Medal on Day 1!  Megan was excited about her competition stating “this is my first Games ever and I was shocked to win a gold medal.”

Team SONL’s snowshoeing team had athletes from across the island – St. John’s, TriCon, Gander, Corner Brook and Baie St. George clubs were all represented on this team of eight.  Our snowshoers lead the team in the medal count and it started off with a great start in the very first competition of the whole Games where Crystal Young took the Silver medal in the 1600-m race first thing that morning.  She followed that up with another Silver in the 800-m and the Gold in her 400-m.  After the divisioning races (where athletes run for their time and then are seeded into the correct division for finals) we did extremely well for the finals in the 200-m, 400-m and 800-m. Floressa Harris took home the Bronze in the F1 division for the 200-m, Cynthia Matthews,  Jeremy Mueller and Greg Hall all took home their Gold medal in their divisions.  Greg, who last competed at a National Games in Prince Albert, Sask 2002 stated that “I have been waiting for this for a long time! I had tears of joy streaming down my face.”  Greg was also impressed that he beat an 18 year old for his medal!  In the 400-m races we claimed 4 Gold medals (Jeremy, Crystal, Amanda Butt and Johnny Philpott) as well as Floressa taking home her second medal – this time a Silver.  Along with Crystal’s Silver for the 800-m; Chris Dugas took home the Gold in his 800-m race.  Jeremy Mueller also took home the Gold in the 100m – his three Gold medals give him a good standing and we are waiting to hear if he has made the National Team heading to South Korea in 2013!! As if an individual medal for each member of our snowshoeing team wasn’t enough – they then went out and captured two more Gold medals for the 1X100 relay and 4X400 relay races!!!

Team SONL represented our province extremely well at these Games.  We would like to extend our congratulations to all the athletes as well as the coaches, mission staff and training coaches of our team!

We have been in the news as well! Check out our articles from across the island:

http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Local/2012-03-06/article-2916604/Special-Olympics-athletes-bring-home-20-medals/1

http://www.thewesternstar.com/Sports/2012-03-06/article-2916289/Special-Olympians-from-western-Newfoundland-claim-medals-at-nationals/1

http://www.ganderbeacon.ca/Sports/2012-03-15/article-2928101/Small-town-athletes-win-big-at-nationals/1

City council approved the recognition of the Special Olympian who resides in Gillams at its public meeting Monday.
The power-lifter claimed three gold and a silver at the 2011 Special Olympics World Games in Athens, Greece this summer,
Barrett, who trains at the Humber Community YMCA and is a member of the local Special Olympics organization, was acknowledged with a certificate for his success while representing Canada at the Games. He and members of his family were present at the meeting for the official presentation.

Ms Dobbin is honoured to be receiving an award from Special Olympics Canada. Since 2009, Judy has served as the chairperson of the Special Olympics Newfoundland and Labrador Festival, refining the event over the last two years into one of Newfoundlandandrsquo;s most popular and unique fundraising soirandeacute;es and almost tripling its profits.

andldquo;Volunteering with Special Olympics NL allows me the privilege of helping athletes with intellectual disabilities to experience the joy and personal fulfillment that is associated with sport training and competitionandrdquo; says Judy Dobbin.

Trish Williams, Executive Director of Special Olympics NL is thrilled that Special Olympics Canada is honouring Judy Dobbin.

Special Olympics has the power to change the lives of both the athletes and the volunteers who support them. andldquo;We thank Ms Dobbin and all the Special Olympic Volunteers and look forward to the 2012 Special Olympic Festival that will take place on March 24th, 2012andrdquo;, said Trish Williams Executive Director SONL.

Special Olympics Newfoundland and Labrador (SONL) is dedicated to enriching the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradoreans with an intellectual disability through sport. It is a provincial not-for-profit grassroots organization that provides sport training and competition opportunities for over 550 athletes of all ages and abilities. There are currently twelve community based clubs that offer sport programs. Through sport Special Olympics offers athletes and families a sense of achievement and an opportunity to excel as they take on leadership roles within their community.

For the past year the athletes and volunteers of Tri-Con have been saving their pennies literally. At Easter last year the club passed out 2 litre pop bottles asking the athletes to save their pennies so that a donation could be made to the Health Care Foundation at their annual telethon.

The concept for andquot;Penny Projectandquot; came about to show the act of giving to local athletes who have been the beneficiaries of the general publics generosity for so many years. The club embraced the project and the chance to give back. There was a great sense of pride for all members when they were able to present their cheque at The Telethon.

The club were present on stage at The Telethon in full uniform rolling out their wheel barrel full of pennies.

The judging consisted of various criteria, including design, usability, innovation in technical features, standards compliance and content. In order to win this award level, the site had to meet strict guidelines in each area – an achievement only a fraction of sites in the IMA competition earn each quarter. Judges included executives from American Express, New Line Cinema, Time Warner, CNN and OgilvyOne Worldwide.