Written by L. Edwards
As the last few days of June melt into a long-awaited summer, the coaches of the Bishop Tonnos Special Olympics basketball and track and field teams have time to reflect on the experience of attending the Provincial High School Championships earlier this month in Chatham-Kent. It was a time that we will savor forever.
Throughout the school year, Titans competed in qualifying tournaments as unified teams, meaning that neurodivergent and neurotypical student athletes played on the same teams together, demonstrating athleticism, sportsmanship, mentorship, and a healthy dose of Titan spirit. Friendships were formed, connections were made, and the competition against other GHAC schools united us as teammates. The goal of these annual tournaments is to qualify for the Provincials, but the competition is always tough, so there was great jubilance in the halls of Bishop Tonnos (and excited calls home to parents) when we learned that we had secured a spot in the Provincials with our unified basketball team, consisting of Avery, Christian, Jack, Klara, Noah and Sebastian. We also were able to qualify our unified track and field athletes Mya and Owen, and we all climbed onto our coach bus to head down the highway to Chatham earlier this month with one of our players, Jack, even choosing to forego his BT Grad to make the trip. Chatham was calling us, and we answered in BT style.
The Special Olympic Provincial High School Championships mirror the actual Olympics in many ways and the experience is exciting and fulfilling. We ate communal meals, stayed in a college dorm, met student athletes from all over Ontario and made new friends, traded pins, marched as a team into the opening ceremonies, saw the flame being lit, had our families in the stands supporting us, and competed to the best of our abilities. As Titans we exemplified the Special Olympics oath, ‘Let me win, and if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt’ and left it all on the court and on the track. Over two days of stiff competition, our unified basketball team made it to the championship and our resulting gold medal game was like a master class in staying cool and supporting each other. We played as a team, listened to our coach, and came from behind to leave with gold medals around our necks and lifelong memories in our hearts. Similarly, our track and field athletes competed with grace and sportsmanship and won an impressive array of gold, silver, and bronze medals. At the closing ceremonies we watched the Special Olympics flame as it was extinguished and then celebrated with the other athletes, dancing in a sea of neon before our triumphant return to Ancaster the next day. It was an unforgettable experience, and we are grateful to everyone who supported our endeavors. The student athletes made their coaches extremely proud, not because of the gold medals but because of the way they conducted themselves as representatives of Bishop Tonnos throughout the tournament. Each of them is a true Titan and that is something for all of us to celebrate.
