Granite Ridge: Special Olympic Recap

Kendra DeRooy – School to Community Teacher | Jun 22, 2017

Most sports season here at GREC run Fall, Winter or Spring, not the Special Olympics! We started preparing for competition way back in October, which just shows the commitment these athletes have to their sport - and boy did it pay off!

Recently, a group of School to Community athletes traveled all the way to Brock University where they competed at the Special Olympic Provincial Championship.

There were over 800 athletes at the event competing in Basketball, Soccer, Bocce Ball and Track and Field. GREC competed in the soccer competition against 11 other teams from across Ontario and Canada.

During Day 1 of competition GREC tied two games and lost 1 game placing them into the B Division for the following day of competition. Day 2 the team really came together and played like superstars! Despite some jitters and a loss early in the day, our athletes overcame this and posted two 5-0 wins that involved incredible ball handling, constant passing, great communication and many shots on net. This put GREC in first place and on their way to the semi-final game where they beat NDSS 3-0, which secured their place in the gold medal game. In the end, GREC won the GOLD with a 1-0 win over Dennis Morris, a local favourite from St. Catherine's, Ontario.

I hope the memories you made this week will last a lifetime and encourage you to try your best in every situation that life may throw at you!

A special thank you to all the athletes, Ms. Steele and Mr. McCullough for the tremendous efforts over the last three days! We are so very proud of all you have accomplished.

The Gryphons look forward to next years Special Olympic competition, which will be held in Peterborough, Ontario from May 29th - May 31st, 2018.