Special Olympics Ontario bringing 2024 school games to Chatham-Kent

For the first time in 26 years, the Special Olympics are coming to Chatham-Kent.

Special Olympics Ontario held a launch Wednesday at the Holiday Inn in Chatham to announce the school championships — with more than 1,000 athletes and coaches — will take place June 10-12, 2024.

Chatham-Kent police Sgt. Jason Herder, who has spearheaded Law Enforcement Torch Run events supporting the games over the years, called it an exciting day for everyone involved.

“This will be a fantastic opportunity to showcase all that our municipality has to offer,” he said.

The events, geared to ages 14 to 21 and including track and field, soccer, basketball, floor hockey and bocce ball, will take place at various venues in Chatham and Ridgetown.

Herder mentioned the contributions of his late father, Rob Herder, and the late Mike Currie, both police officers, who were instrumental in organizing the 1997 summer games in Chatham, before municipal amalgamation.

He said Chatham-Kent police take pride in their partnership with the organization, noting the values ​​it fosters in the the community.

Sponsors include TekSavvy and Winmar, and other businesses and groups are invited to get involved, Herder said.

Cody Jansma, vice-president of operations for Special Olympics Ontario, urged people to come out and “witness first-hand the transformative power that is Special Olympic sport.”

Carl Barko, who played baseball in the 1997 Chatham games, was one of several athletes from that year at Wednesday’s announcement.

“It was great to know it was coming back,” he said.

Barko, a second baseman, advised today’s athletes to embrace the moment and not worry about the result. “I’d tell them to have fun and enjoy themselves.”

Mayor Darrin Canniff said he was “over-the-top excited” by the news.

“This is a community effort,” he said. “It’s going to be a really big event. . . It’s that opportunity for Chatham-Kent to shine.”

Upcoming games fundraisers include the Torch Ride for motorcyclists on Aug. 12, in partnership with WAMBO, and the renamed Mike Currie Memorial Torch Run Sept. 9. The Polar Plunge returns Jan. 20 next year, followed by the Over the Edge fundraiser June 8.

Herder credited his father and Currie for making the local organization what it is today, adding he expected they’d have been pleased with the result.

“I certainly hope that that’s the case, that they’re looking down and they’re going, ‘We left it in good hands and it’s in good shape, and take it from here,’ ” he said.

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