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The 2013 Spring Provincials Games were held April 19-21, 2013, in Red Deer, AB. Team Calgary consisted of 248 athletes and coaches involved in 5 Pin Bowling, 10 Pin Bowling, Basketball and Swimming.
The weekend started off on Friday, April 19th when our athletes, parents, caregivers, volunteers and coaches met at Deerfoot Mall, the departure point. We loaded 5 buses of Team Calgary members and even our friends from Special Olympics Airdrie!
Team Calgary buses ready to head to Red Deer
We drove for a short 1.5 hours to Penhold, the site of our accommodations. We were lodged in the old army barracks which was a new experience for most of the team. Team Calgary had one block all to themselves as we were the largest affiliate there, making up almost 1/3 of the participants!
Calgary buses arrive in Penhold and volunteers and coaches unloading all the luggage
Special Olympics Alberta flag at the accommodations
Once we got all of our athletes and coaches with their luggage to their rooms and organized, everyone quickly changed into their Team Calgary uniforms and we headed to the dining hall for dinner. It was a busy place as some of the other affiliates had started competing that day and were all now headed to get some food. After dinner, we were quickly on our way to opening ceremonies to get the 2013 Spring Provincial Games officially started! The opening ceremonies was full of excitement! There was a Tae Kwon Do presentation, performance by Randi Boulton and of course the LETR members ran in with the Torch!!
Team Calgary in line for dinner on Friday night
Red Deer: "A special city for special games"
Team Calgary lined up before the opening ceremonies
One of our sign bearers, Joachim Wlodarczak, participant in swimming
Our other sign bearer, Trina Rutten, was the youngest Team Calgary member!
Our 2013 Spring Provincial Games sign bearers together
The sea of red: Team Calgary
The sea of red part 2: The rest of Team Calgary
Tae Kwon Do performance
Randi Boulton performed and our athletes couldn't help but dance along!
After the opening ceremonies, the 2013 Provincial Spring Games had officially started! Our athletes and coaches made their way back to the accommodations and headed to bed as the next day started early with a day of competition. Saturday we had our athletes competing at four different venues around Red Deer and had many parents, caregivers, friends and family come out and cheer them on! Their day was filled with competition as well as some newly formed friendships.
We then came to the part of the weekend that everyone was looking forward to...the dinner and THE DANCE! All of the tables were empty as soon as the music started and the dance floor was filled. The affiliates across Alberta merged together and busted their moves to the classic macaraena, YMCA and the infamous Gangnam Style. It was a great evening full of laughs but made for a long day. Team Calgary packed up once they got their dancing done and headed back to get a good nights sleep before the last day of competition.
Some athletes holding a sign made by a fan!
The filled dance floor doing the 'YMCA'
Sunday morning was busy as the teams had to pack up their bags so they would be loaded onto the buses while they were competing, so Team Calgary could head home as soon as they were done competition for the day. The final day of the Games meant medal rounds for all the sports and we had many of our individuals and teams competing in the finals. We were excited for our athletes that received medals, but were proud of the amount of our athletes that had achieved their personal bests this weekend. There has been vast improvements over the year and we can never express enough how proud we are of Team Calgary!!
Some photos from the weekend:
  
 
 
      
   
 
  
Here are the final results:
5 Pin Bowling
Deerfoot
Teams: 3 Silver
1 Bronze
Singles: 4 Gold
5 Silver
6 Bronze
Chinook
Teams: 1 Gold
1 Silver
1 Bronze
Singles: 7 Gold
6 Silver
3 Bronze
Paradise
Teams: 1 Silver
1 Bronze
Singles: 4 Gold
2 Silver
4 Bronze
10 Pin Bowling
2 Gold
2 Silver
9 Bronze
Basketball
2 Gold
1 Bronze
Swimming
30 Gold
24 Silver
31 Bronze
Team Calgary won a total of 151 medals!
We couldn't be more proud of all of our athletes this weekend. They showed great determination, sportsmanship and spirit as they competed all weekend and were amazing representatives for Special Olympics Calgary. We can't thank our coaches enough for sharing their time and experience over the program season as well as dedicating their weekend to the athletes.
It was a fantastic weekend and we want to thank Special Olympics Alberta and Red Deer for hosting this event, and all of the many wonderful volunteers who shared their weekend with us to better our athletes.
As part one of provincial games has come to a close, stay tuned for part two: 2013 Provincial Summer Games which are being held on June 21-23, 2013 in Devon, Alberta. The sports that are included are athletics, bocce, golf, powerlifting, rhythmic gymnastics, softball, and soccer.
For information regarding Team Alberta and the selection process please click here
If you have any photos from the Spring Games and want to see them on our website, please email them to us at
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