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Special Olympics still making a difference for kids

Special Olympics in Estevan has continued to make a difference for children in the region, teaching them how to enjoy sport while building other skills.
Estevan Tier 2 Atom Bruins
Members of the Estevan Tier 2 Atom Bruins Halen Lesy, Carter Beatty, Quintin Sliva, Keegan Park and Corbin Barker presented a cheque to Olivia Meili, Warren Blanchette, Klara Heath and Emily Meili. Photo submitted

Special Olympics in Estevan has continued to make a difference for children in the region, teaching them how to enjoy sport while building other skills.

Dallas Gilliss, the youth program co-ordinator for the local Special Olympics chapter, said it was a little extra work to get things started this year, but now the program has begun, the kids are all having fun and everything is going well.

For the youth program, they have 14 registered, with seven for Active Start, which is for children ages two to six, and seven more for FUNdamentals, which is for those six to 12. They’ve had to shorten the class times slightly, so they can have a gap of about 30 minutes between sessions to sanitize all of the extra equipment.

“All of the kids are having lots of fun and enjoying the program,” said Gilliss. “They’re all gaining new skills and having fun every night, and that’s basically our goal.”

Two volunteers have stepped up to help with the cleaning.

This year’s Active Start and FUNdamentals began in the third week of October. Typically they start in early October, but the first session of the season was pushed back two weeks.

Dec. 4 is slated to be the final week for their activities before Christmas, and then the programs would run again from Jan. 8 to Feb. 26.

While the number of kids is down from the 30 they had last year between the two programs, the kids who are participating this year are still having a great time.

“The kids are still having lots of fun,” said Gilliss. “They’re gaining lots of skills and happily enjoying the program.”

Her son is in Special Olympics, and the sessions are his favourite part of the week.

There have been some changes for this year. A nutrition program was part of Active Start and FUNdamentals last year that allowed the kids to try something new each week.

“It was really great because the kids would try other fruits that they usually wouldn’t, because all of their friends were. This year we might have been able to accommodate it, but we decided to drop it for this year,” said Gilliss.

Also, last year parents of kids in FUNdamentals would watch from the sidelines while kids gained skills and work with volunteers, but this year the parents are alongside the children.

“We’ve just made the classes to make sure all the kids are spread out,” said Gilliss. “If one child is playing with a certain ball, we ensure they keep playing with that ball.”

People continue to support Special Olympics. Last week members of the Estevan Tier 2 Atom Bruins presented a cheque for $3,400 Friday to assist with the programs.

The money was raised by the kids selling pizzas for a fundraiser, and was to be used to pay for a bus to take the Bruins to a hockey tournament in Melville in March, but that tournament was called off when COVID-19 shut down hockey. So the team decided to support Special Olympics instead.

Special Olympics also has an adult programs in Estevan. They have seven athletes and three volunteers registered for swimming. Two volunteers dropped out, but they added one more, and Gilliss said they could use more help.

She suggested someone who is energetic with a good swimming background to share their knowledge would be a good addition.

A bowling program is offered as well that has 31 athletes and 10 volunteers. Eight of those volunteers are new.

Both of the adult programs run on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

“The adult program has been working with Special Olympics Saskatchewan, Sask. Health, Sport Specific and facility guidelines to ensure the safety of the athletes, and this was vetted by the EDS executive management,” said Gilliss.

Athletes and volunteers are having a great time, and it’s the smiles, celebrations and laughter that make the programs, she said.

Those interested in Special Olympics can email specialokidsestevan@gmail.com for youths or specialoestevan@gamil.com for adults.