Special Olympics Red Deer: bigger and better than ever

Not only is the number of athletes growing, the group continues to become younger, Tennant says.

“For many years we had older adults and senior citizens. We’re now finding a lot of teenagers and even younger, our minimum age is 10, we’re starting to get younger athletes.”

Thankfully, Tennant says tremendous community support has allowed them to keep up with their rapid growth.

“Compared to some other communities in Alberta, Red Deer is really terrific. Every week or two I get someone calling or e-mailing saying ‘How can I get involved?’”

Tennant says 70 athletes and 20 coaches from his club will be heading to Medicine Hat next month for the 2017 Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games. From there qualifiers will be chosen to represent Alberta at the Special Olympics Canada 2018 Summer Games in Nova Scotia. Some could eventually represent Canada at the Special Olympics 2019 World Summer Games in Abu Dhabi.

Guest speaker at Tuesday’s breakfast was Red Deer’s Tammy Cunnington, the world record-holding swimmer who competed at last summer’s Paralympics in Rio.

Cunnington says the “Spirit of Sport” is a uniting bond between special, disabled and able-bodied athletes.

“There’s a different attitude and a different feel among athletes. When we’re together we talk about other people being “The Normals,” she joked.

Having just returned from competition in Indianapolis over the weekend, Cunnington is currently training to compete at the 2017 World Para Swimming World Series in Mexico City this fall. Her next competition is July 6 – 9 in Berlin, Germany.

Tuesday’s breakfast expected to raise about $15,000 for Special Olympic Red Deer. The group raises between 60 – 70 per cent of its annual operating funds through the breakfast.

by Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Special Olympics Red Deer: bigger and better than ever

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