Special Olympics by Matt W (Ability Online member)

Hello Everyone,

My name is Matt  and I am a Special Olympics athlete I am live in Nova Scotia. Just a little back story on the Special Olympics it was created by Dr.Frank Hayden and Eunice Kennedy Shriver and the monumental kick off for Special Olympics was at Soldiers Field in Chicago in 1969. 

Now you must be thinking to yourself what it is like to be a Special Olympics Athlete?  Well let me tell you being a Special Olympics athlete is great because everyone looks at your abilities and your coaches will always push you to try something new and they will challenge you to do it if you think you can’t. 

What’s it like having your sister as your coach? It’s pretty awesome. My sister took me to a practice one night and she jumped down off the stage and starting kicked around with me and they asked her to be a coach and has been ever since. She has learned a lot of skills like I have. 

Where have you competed? I Have competed primarily in Nova Scotia at the summer games and each year they are held at Acadia University and STFX University and Dalhousie University. But I did compete at the 2014 national summer games in Vancouver with my basketball team and most recently my soccer team competed at a tournament in the Yukon. 

What is your sport? I have competed in many sports such as Floor Hockey (off ice ringette) Softball, Track and Field but my current sports are basketball and soccer. 

What’s your favorite position to play? I am a many of many hats but I enjoy playing all positions but because of my height since I’m so tall I am point guard for basketball and play Mid-field, Defence and Goalie for soccer. 

How do you like to stay active outside of your sports? Back in 2018 my soccer coach thought of us doing the Bluenose marathon, we do the Life mark 5k (5 Kilometres in the heart of downtown Halifax) so my sister took me to the Canada Games Center and we started running indoors and Now I run outdoors and I normally run 4K (4 Kilometeres) 

How long have you been doing it? I have been competing in the Special Olympics for 15 years and see no sign of stopping in sight!. Do you have any future goals? I would love to qualify for the nationals again and go onto worlds.