MANITOULIN—The Manitoulin Special Olympics (MSO) softball team, along with several of its track and field athletes have qualified for and will be taking part in the Special Olympics provincial summer games. The event will mark the first time an MSO softball team has qualified for the provincial games.
“We have our softball team, and three track and field athletes going to the 2025 Ontario Special Olympic Summer Games taking place in Brantford July 10-12,” said MSO coach and MSO coordinator Janet Anning.
The MSO athletes had played in provincial qualifiers last year and pre-qualifiers in 2023. Last year the Manitoulin Wolverines C division softball team came home with a silver medal after being defeated by Almaguin at the provincial qualifier. The MSO track and field athletes had followed the same path and went to a regional meet recently held in Southern Ontario where all the team members, including Bruce Vanhorn, Kelsey Mellan and Matthew Bedard all posted personal best results in their events. Coach Joanne Mellan will accompany the track and field team to the provincials.
The MSO softball team will include players William Leclair, Rebecca Strain, Emily Moggy, Marybeth Taliotis, Aaron Nickol, Mathieu Bouillon, Michael Cormiere, Jared Ladouceur, Micheal Harper, Dylan Danville, Tyler Madahbee, Jeffery Harper and coaches Roslyn Taylor, Sandra Graham and Janet Anning.
“There will be a total of 18 softball teams at the provincials in different divisions,” said Ms. Anning. “We are included in one division with five other teams.”
“We are expecting the games to be really competitive and our athletes have been training hard. It’s going to be a blast,” stated Ms. Anning.
The MSO athletes will be competing with heavy hearts with the recent passing of John Featherstone, who was the coordinator of the Bluegrass in the Country for many years which supports MSO. His son Austin was an MSO athlete. “John was a big supporter of MSO and is going to be missed by the whole community. Obviously, we will be thinking about the Featherstone family and their loss. We will miss him,” she said, noting a celebration of life is being planned for Mr. Featherstone on July 17.
