'Makes my dreams come true': Countdown to 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary

Team Alberta has 96 athletes competing in eight sports during the 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games in Calgary, all of whom have been training for months in preparation for the five-day event, which begins on Feb. 27.

"We've had some really good people on our leadership team," said Jodi Flanagan, Team Alberta Chef de Mission. "Talking to the athletes about their discipline and staying focused and staying in the moment of their training."

Flanagan has been meeting with athletes and coaches once a month through Zoom calls to make sure everyone is getting what they need to perform at a high level for the games.

"We want the excitement, but we don't want them to peak too early and get too excited in January, when we know we need to stay focused until we get here in February," she said. "Lots of strategy and technique goes into keeping everybody on par."

This will be Flanagan's 10th Special Olympic national event. She says she relies on veteran athletes to help the rookies know what to expect.

"We've been asking them to have those conversations and share information and different tactics that they use," she said.

"How do you get to sleep when you're all excited? What do you need to do? And this is what you should expect for different food or different beds, and different roommates, and all those different things. We really rely on those veteran athletes and coaches."

Sarah McCarthy is competing in cross-country skiing. The 40-year-old is a veteran and in her sixth national winter games.

McCarthy says she hasn't been skiing as much as she'd like because there just isn't a lot of snow in Calgary.

"I'm doing some dryland training, depending on the snow condition," she said. "I have been skiing a couple of times and training at home and doing other activities to get myself ready for the games."

McCarthy says she's looking forward to meeting new people at this year's Games.

"I like meeting people hanging out with friends," she said. "Seeing all my friends and having fun in my sport."

Kieran Corrigan, 29, will compete in his first national winter Games. He's a snowshoe runner and says good cardio is important, so he spends a lot of time in the gym, but also does yoga and weight training.

"(From) 12:30 p.m. till 2 p.m. every Sunday since last October," he said. "And I go to the gym every Tuesday since last fall, and right after work every Monday from 5 p.m. to like 6 p.m."

Corrigan's dad Bob says he'd like to see more snow at the Maple Ridge Golf Course where the events will be hosted.

Unlike cross country skiing, he says snowshoe events can be held on dry ground if needed.

"We're finishing up our all of our training right now so we're down to the last bit," he said. "(My son) never argues or complaints about training, he works hard, he's also a runner too, so of course that helps to prepare him for the snow running."

On the ice at the Seven Chiefs Sportplex, figure skater Jorden Tyson is fine-tuning her routine in front of coach Barbara Prystai.

This year will mark the 31-year-old woman's third national Games, and she says she's excited to have her friends and family watch her compete.

"I was practicing my waltz and toe loop," she said. "My salchow, my falling-leaf toe loop, my loop-loop and also my flipped jump, and I am not nervous, because I'm excited, I have to smile."

Tyson trains up to six days a week on and off the ice.

"I did Pilates five times per week, yoga one time per week, ballet one time per week (because I love) dance. This is my spirit, Special Olympics makes my dreams come true."

Prystai says many viewers have no idea how much effort competing athletes have put in.

"They just think they show up and that's it," she said.

"People have to remember they are athletes, they're not just Special Olympians or Special Olympic athletes, these guys are athletes and they train anywhere between three and six days a week, they do on ice, they do off ice, they're dedicated, and they give you 100 per cent all the time."

Te last time Calgary hosted the Special Olympic Canada Winter Games was in 1996.

Flanagan says the more spectators who come out to watch and cheer, the better the athletes will do.

"The benefits from participating in an event like this and the life lessons that you can learn, we all learn, it doesn't matter whether we're coaching or in a leadership position or an athlete, we're all getting something out of it."

To learn more about the Calgary 2024 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games, you can visit this website: https://calgary2024.specialolympics.ca/