Volunteers with the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games will start to see the finish line during the Team Alberta training camp this weekend.
A portion of the 754 volunteers for the Feb. 28 to March 3 national competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities will provide assistance at various sports venues in St. Albert and Edmonton.
“There is some light at the end of the tunnel for us and that is a good thing,” said Sandyne Beach-McCutcheon, director of administration and volunteers for the Games Organizing Committee. “The people who have committed their time and efforts want to have that opportunity to actually start getting involved with the Games and involved with the athletes. Hopefully that will engage the community as well.”
Two primary groups of volunteers involved with the training camp are the sports technical and special events teams.
“Each of the sports has recruited people to work with them as hands-on volunteers when the sports are taking place. The athletes are going to be testing out the facilities this weekend and it’s a good opportunity for those volunteers to kind of see exactly what it’s going to be like when we’re in Games mode,” said Beach-McCutcheon. “The special events team is putting on an athletes dance, which is sort of what we’re having at the closure of the Games when we have a dance for all the athletes who are present.”
A large core of volunteers has also signed up to assist with various operational aspects such as food service and transportation but will not participate with the training camp.
“Probably 80 per cent of the volunteers are more on the operational side that will be active during Games time,” said Beach-McCutcheon. “The ones who are active in the sports are the smaller number of volunteers, but are critical to the operation of the sports activities.”
Beach-McCutcheon encourages all volunteers not helping out this weekend to check out today’s activities in St. Albert. Curling will be staged at the St. Albert Curling Club, figure skating is at Servus Credit Union Place, the St. Albert Rugby Football Club is hosting snowshoeing and cross-country skiing will take place at Kingswood Park.
In Edmonton the alpine skiers will train at Rabbit Hill, floor hockey players will scrimmage at the Metro Sportplex and speed skaters will hit the ice at Clareview Arena.
All the venues are open to the public.
“It’s an opportunity for them to see what is going on and get a sense of what they are going to get involved with in a few weeks’ time.”
The Team Alberta contingent consists of 112 athletes, coaches and mission staff.
The Games will bring together more than 650 athletes and 300 coach and mission staff from 10 provinces and two territories.
“It’s an exciting time for us as the Games Organizing Committee and for the volunteers as well and it’s going to continue to build,” said Beach-McCutcheon. “One of the challenges when you’re involved in something like this where there is so much lead-up and so much preparation time is you feel like you’re almost in sand.
“Your feet are moving but nothing much is happening because it’s sort of a staged process. With the volunteers, some of them volunteered online and submitted their application back in September. It’s been a long haul waiting for something to actually start to happen so it’s certainly going to be a great time for those who are engaged this weekend.
“The next big moment for all of them is our volunteer rally on Feb. 17 and 18. They’re going to get their uniforms and accreditation and then we’re rolling.”
Organizers are still looking for medically trained volunteers. For more information, contact the Games office at 780-458-4564 or visit www.stalbert2012.ca.
“They certainly don’t have to be physicians. They could be an LPN,” said Beach-McCutcheon. “There are a significant number of shifts that have to be filled and that has been a tougher one to recruit mostly because a lot of those people don’t know their shifts until very late. The scheduling is not as defined as say a standard work day would be so they’re not quite as certain of what they’re up to, so it’s been a little more challenging to recruit folks to those roles.”
