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HERALD Wednesday Disabled Athletes Determination pays handsomely Disabled athletes representing Canada in worldwide competition are in an elite class achieving new heights with every effort Their determination has paid off Canada finished fourth among the 66 competing na tions a the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul Korea In Canada plac ed third in one of the largest inter national competitions for disabled athletes on Long Island New York And the Canadian Cerebral Palsy team and the Canadian Wheelchair team are recent world champions Much of the success Canada has acheived can be traced back to On tario where almost per cent of all Canadian team members in disabled sports live The Ontario Games for the Physically Disabled first held in 1975 has been a boon to disabled sports Originally designed to pro vide disabled athletes with an op portunity to train and develop their skills to compete at national and international levels the program has expanded to include athletes and more than coaches officials and staff As a Games partner with the On tario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation Sports for the Disabl ed Ontario is a coordinating agen cy collecting and distributing in formation on all areas of disabled sports While it has made tremendous strides Executive Director Doug Wilton says there is much more to accomplish Our next big goal is to have disabled sports events integrated with major ablebodied competi tions such as the Ontario Sumer and Winter Games the Com monwealth Games and Olympics he said The International Committee has been formed to encourage integration of disabled sports into competitions in Canada and other countries Weve beenjpld by the Interna tional Olympic Committee that once we demonstrate we can do it ourselves their officials will be ready to discuss doing it in the Olympics Wilton said Talks are also underway with the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations to explore having disabled sports events in tegrated with ablebodied competi tions at the high school level An important objective or disabled sports groups is to promote more events in the schools to inspire more young people with disabilities to become active and participate in sports Disabled sports are organized by four Provincial Sports Organiza tions including the Ontario Sports Amputee Association the Ontario Blind Sports Association the On tario Cerebral Palsy Sports Association and the Ontario Wheelchair Sports Association All four groups of athletes are eligible to compete in three sports track and field swimming and if ting weigh ting Each group also organizes events in ad ditional sports For example amputee athletes compete in archery and volleyball blind athletes wrestle and take part in gymnastics cerebral palsy athletes play and soccer and wheelchair athletes play basketball and sledge hockey Wilton promises that the typical sports fan will get as much enjoy ment from watching disabled sports events as from watching ablebodied sports At the Seoul the wheelchair marathon had a capacity crowd of standing in their seats and cheering the end of the race Wilton says He says that the standards of competition have continued to in crease each year At the Boston Marathon they used to let the Catholic schools hold track meet The Halton Roman Catholic School Boards track and field meet for elementary school students was held last Tuesday June 5 and Wednesday with 29 schools including Holy Cross Sacre and St Francis of elementary schools of Georgetown and St Josephs elementary school of Acton com peting in the twoday event staged at Burlingtons Nelson Stadium The approximately 2000 com petitors challenged in four divi sions Bantam Midget and Tyke Georgetowns Holy Cross elementary school led the charge by the North Halton schools pick ing up six ribbons Angela was a double ribbon winner placing third in the metre event and second in the high jump event in the Bantam division Nelson Esteireiros placed se cond in the Atom division 200 metre dash for Holy Cross Danny Jackman placed first in the Tyke division metre dash Kim Moore was third in the Tyke division metre dash and Heather won the throw St Josephs Elementary School of Acton had four ribbon winners in the Atom division David Clark won the high jump event Louie was second in the throw Michael placed third in the metre dash and Joy Christopher was second in the long jump St Francis of had three ribbon winners Martin Johnson won the Atom boys metre event and Danielle Cory was third in the high jump In the Midget division Kelly Campbell of St Francis of Assisi finished third Julie Dugas was the lone ribbon winner for Sacre Coeur finishing third in the Midget girls 60 metre dash QUICK PIK wheelchairs go first so that by the time the runners caught up the wheelchairs would be well dispers ed Now the runners dont even come close to catching up The time for the marathon is about one hour and 38 minutes well under the two hours and 10 minutes the runners take And its pretty hard wheeling up those hills believe me A coach of both high school and disabled athletes for 10 years Wilton says his involvement has been rewarding Compared to ablebodied athletes our athletes are more tough mentally more creative and are extremely self- motivated and dedicated They dont cut practices He points out that they do some really amazing things For exam ple a onelegged amputee Amie of Saskatchewan high- jumped seven feet Wilton says the considerable ac complishments that are evident in disabled sports today result from the efforts of a lot of people The Ministry of Tourism and Recreation has been very sup portive in all aspects of our development For example it pro vides over a year for the regional and provincial games The four PSOs share about a year and this office gets about he said He also gives a pat on the back to the many Ontario municipalities that host our events and support our activities Wilton points out that disabled sports are promoted throughout the province by about 22 clubs and eight or nine affiliated organiza tions Most of the clubs integrate all four sports groups and are run by volunteers There are a few paid staff We run clinics for their coaches and provide seminars for club ad ministrators offering advice on fund raising recruitment and risk management and safety Wilton says there is a good deal of excitement in the disabled sports community these days about a testing and scientific train ing facility for disabled sports It cold be a big step forward he says Wilton points out Variety Village already runs games for young disabled athletes This is an im portant area so weve hired a new technical director to work on development of activities for youth We have about disabled athletes in our high schools he says BUY ONE GET ONE FREE ON ANY SIZE PIZZA FREE DELIVERY Alter 400 pm 1 84 Guelph St Georgetown BRINGS YOU Nintendo NINTENDO WEEKEND SPECIAL A Machine Games nusiu CARTRIDGE WE BUY USED CARTRIDGES 2500 or MORE THIS WEEKS SPECIALS OVER MOVIES Including New 99 Milk Carton Slush Frozen Yogurt PEPSI or COKE Btl Although his features might be a bit hard to distinguish 9yearold Tyler Pearce of Georgetown was In pretty distinguished company at the National Hockey League awards banquet held June 6 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre In the above picture Tyler poses with Ray Bourque of the Boston Bruins the Norrls Trophy winner as the leagues top Photo submitted Georgetown youngster meets NHL stars Tyler of Georgetown experienced an even ing countless minor hockey players only dream about On June 6th Tyler attended the NHL Awards and Dinner held at the Metro Toronto Conven tion Centre For this special occasion Tyler was dressed in a tuxedo and got to ride in a white stretch limousine During the course of the evening Tyler met with and got autographs and photographs of many NHL award winners Wayne Gretzky Darren Puppa Brett Hull Mark Messier McDonald Patrick Roy Andy Moog and Ray Bourque are just a few of the NHL stars Tyler met and had his picture taken with Tyler also had his picture taken with the Stanley Cup Tyler played hockey for the Georgetown Minor Novice Rep team this past season as their BURGER KING HAPPY FATHERS DAY FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT BURGER KING STARTING JUNE NEON SUNGLASSES Willi The of a Drink ONIT 99 Guelph St Georgetown 8773642 II KING CORPORATION VALUABLE COUPON BUY A WHOPPER AND KING FRY GET A WHOPPER FREE at Georgetown location only Not valid any other any EXPIRES JUNE 30th90 I VALUABLE COUPON BUYACROISSANWICH AND A DRINK FREE GET A CkOISSANWICH Valid at Georgetown location only Not valid with any other offer I I I