Paul Oldridge started playing golf after watching his dad, Bob, slice it up on the fairways around Cochrane over the last few summers.
Paul Oldridge started playing golf after watching his dad, Bob, slice it up on the fairways around Cochrane over the last few summers. He got pretty good at it, and now, he's ready to demonstrate his drive at the Special Olympics provincial competition this weekend in Medicine Hat.
“I started out golfing, but just started getting a little bit better these last two years, ” the 36-year-old said this week. “I enjoy it … I think it will be good. ”
Oldridge is one of a handful of Cochranites taking part in the Special Olympics Alberta Summer Games in Medicine Hat, where as many as 1,200 athletes with cognitive challenges from 24 communities around the province will compete in 11 summer sports, including five- and 10-pin bowling, athletics, basketball, bocce, golf, powerlifting, rhythmic gymnastics, soccer, softball and swimming.
Top performers will earn a chance to compete next on the national stage at the Special Olympics Canada 2018 Summer Games in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, next July.
Alberta's event is the largest provincial qualifier in the country.
Special Olympics swim coach Bradley Baker - a 21-year-old graduate of Bow Valley High School - has been at the pool twice a week since January preparing as many as 60 athletes from the Calgary area for the Games, including former Cochrane resident and competitor Matthew Russell.
“He was one of the athletes who really impressed me, ” Baker said of Russell. “He's a really strong swimmer. ”
Baker said he got involved with Special Olympics as a way to re-ignite his passion for swimming, and to help those with cognitive challenges find and follow that same love for sport.
“It's been very rewarding, ” he said. “It teaches (athletes) to be confident in themselves. It opens new doors that may not have been open to them originally. ”
Special Olympics has certainly opened doors for teenager Nic Lilly, who earned a bronze medal in floor hockey at the 2016 Winter Games in Newfoundland and leveraged his experience to start a sports league at Cochrane High School.
This weekend in Medicine Hat, he’s hoping to shine on the soccer pitch, where he plays striker.
“It’s my second-best sport, ” said Lilly, who will represent the region for the second time. “I’ve been playing soccer since I was six years old. ”
Lilly and his team have been training in northeast Calgary for a few months, running drills and mock matches in anticipation of the provincial tournament, where they will play up to four games.
“(I think we’ll do) pretty good, ” he said. “We trained hard. ”
Other Cochrane athletes finessed their games this week ahead of the competition in Medicine Hat, with Oldridge taking in a practice nine at the McCalls Lake Golf Course in Calgary, and doing a round at his home club in Water Valley to stay loose.
“It's peaceful, it's quiet and I just love it out there, ” he said.
The swim team also recently ran a mini-meet in order to nail the ins and outs of the rules, like touching the wall before a turn. Baker said coaches and competitors alike are ready and excited to get to the summer games.
“Everyone's in such a good mood, ” he said. “It's going to be super fun. ”
