Burnaby Special Olympics has its own Angels in the outfield.
The team of 16 local women with intellectual disabilities recently fielded what is believed to be B.C.’s first-ever all-female team at a mixed Special Olympics softball tournament in Coquitlam.
The Angels, who have been practising diligently at Willingdon Park for most of the spring season in preparation for their first real-time game, finished third overall.
In the tourney, the women defeated an all-male team and lost to another, while tying their last game with a co-ed team.
“They were pretty ecstatic,” said Burnaby softball coach Paul Colvin.
“The whole concept began a few years ago when I was the program coordinator for Special Olympics Burnaby,” Colvin said.
There was a drive to increase the numbers of female athletes, and what resulted has been a number of firsts for the Burnaby women.
In 2008, there were enough athletes to form the organization’s first all-female curling team.
The Rockettes went all the way to the Special Olympics Canada national games.
Two of the local women on that curling team were selected to go to the World Games, and Colvin and his wife went along to support them.
At the worlds held in Greece, Colvin witnessed an all-female softball team from the host nation taking part.
Shortly after that, somehow the seed was sewn for a similar experiment right here in Burnaby.
“I don’t know if they had heard me talking about it, but it was them that came up with the idea,” Colvin said.
He agreed to help, but on one condition.
“They had to go out and recruit the girls, and they did it,” said Colvin.
The team brought 16 women out, including seven who had never played softball in their lives. Three others came over from a mixed team they played with the season before.
“A lot of my friends just wanted to try it,” said Artisia Wong, one of the starters on the 2008 women’s curling team. “I said, ‘If you don’t like it,’ but they all liked it, so we’re going to do it next year.”
The experience was empowering for the women and positive on a number of levels, said Colvin.
“They have all shown improvement in every aspect of the game. They feel safe and secure, and they have grown,” Colvin said. “Everyone was successful at batting and making plays in the field.”
But perhaps more importantly, they learned to trust and support each other.
One player got hurt and couldn’t play, but became a super go-to person in the dugout.
Another, who was one of the more competitive athletes and used to get down on herself when things didn’t go right, has become one of the strongest supporters of the other girls on the team.
“The main thing is the support they give each other. They are in tune that they are on an all-female team,” said Colvin.
“Yeah, it was our best times together,” Wong added. “It was good, we were the first team for curling, too. That was fun, you didn’t have guys telling you what to do.”
And that realized identity has spawned a whole new set of athletic firsts and possibilities for the women.
“A lot of us are trying to ask Paul for a floor hockey team that’s not too competitive.
“Yeah, I am (proud). I think it’s more better girls helping each other. With boys, they expect you to do it,” she said.
