A busy training camp filled with challenging exercises would occupy the thoughts of most high-performance athletes but Darby McIntyre was more excited to meet their teammates.
McIntyre attended a Special Olympics Canada training camp this past week, bringing together athletes from across the country to prepare for the upcoming 2025 World Winter Games. McIntyre will compete in cross-country skiing when the international multi-sport event for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities comes to Turin, Italy, in March.
"Connection is very important to me," said McIntyre on Saturday after a morning of training. "I would rather see a person in person than be on my phone all the time because every person, there will never be anybody like that person.
"Every person is like a one-of-a-kind art piece."
Athletes, coaches, and mission staff had their first in-person training camp ahead of the Winter Games from Thursday through Sunday in southern Alberta, with most of the athletes converging on Calgary. McIntyre, as a cross-country skier, did their training in Canmore, Alta.
Although McIntyre had competed in Summer Games before, they had missed out on the 2022 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Kazan, Russia, after the event was cancelled due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
McIntyre, who is from Whitehorse, was happy to get a second chance at the Winter Games and the opportunity to visit Italy for the first time.
"I am over the moon excited," they said. "I've never been there before and I love pasta. Pasta is my favourite food.
"As long as they don't add cheese, we're good."
Joshua Boudreau, a speedskater from Yellowknife, also missed out on the 2022 Games and, like McIntyre, was happy to meet his teammates in person.
"It's been going pretty good. It's pretty nice to be with the people that we skated with at nationals," Boudreau said, adding that he also liked skating at Calgary's Olympic Oval for the first time. "It's going to be great to actually get to go to Italy because I was one of the four skaters that were supposed to go to Russia, but then it got cancelled.
"Now we actually get to go. That's great."
Retired Olympic curler Cheryl Bernard is an honorary coach for the 2025 Special Olympics team and toured several training sites this week, including the Alpine team's facility in Kananaskis, Alta., the cross-country skiing and snowshoe team's sessions at the Canmore Nordic Centre, figure skating practice at Seven Chiefs Sportsplex in Priddis, Alta., and then speedskating at the Oval in Calgary.
Bernard also addressed the athletes at an opening ceremony in Calgary.
"As life goes on and you play sport at a high level, it becomes almost a business," said Bernard, who became involved with Special Olympics Canada after retiring from competitive curling in 2014. "These Games really took me back to just the pure joy of playing sports and cheering each other on.
"What it really showcases is these individuals who have intellectual or developmental disabilities, but it showcases their abilities instead of their disabilities, and I just see it over and over again."
Gail Hamamoto, the chief executive officer of Special Olympics Canada, said that although the delegation is set for the 2025 World Winter Games, the charity is always looking for more people to help.
"As an organization that is run at the grassroots level by volunteers, they are critical to our mission and to the work that we do," she said. "We have more than 20,000 volunteers across the country, but we need more.
"We have 12 chapters, provincial and territorial chapters, who are the direct line of communication for our volunteers, so I would encourage volunteers or people who are interested in volunteering to contact your local Special Olympics, provincial or territorial chapter."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 14, 2024.
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John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
