A soccer team from Isfeld Secondary is one of three sides competing at an inaugural Special Olympics indoor tournament, Thursday, Jan. 24 at Ballenas Secondary in Parksville. The host school and Alberni District Secondary have also entered squads for the five-on-five tourney.
“Our intent is that we will move to outdoor in the early fall,” said Michelle Cruickshank, community development manager at Special Olympics BC.
“We hope it provides students with a positive sport, or possibly first sport experience, for them, but also giving them the opportunity to compete as a student-athlete and represent their school. We’re looking to try and give them as much of that opportunity as possible. As we see those students transition out of high school and into the community, we’re not plastering Special Olympics all over these kinds of things. The most important piece is that we’re spotlighting them as student-athletes for their schools.”
Tournaments such as this also provide opportunities for the entire student body of a host school to help with scorekeeping, reffing and other tasks.
“A lot of our schools that participate in the tournaments also have student leaders that help coach the teams, which is fantastic,” Cruickshank said.
The ‘Ice’ from Isfeld is a nine-player team that has been practising for more than a month, under the leadership of coach Kari Bennett, a lifeskills teacher at the Courtenay school.
“Most of these players, if not all, will likely be playing basketball as well,” Bennett said. “They are all strong athletes.”
In April, for the second straight year, Isfeld will host a Special Olympics three-on-three basketball tournament, which started in 2017 at Vanier Secondary.