Qualifying Efforts

After having done so well at the Winter National Games, Cory has turned his attention to next year's Special Olympics British Columbia Provincial Summer Games.  He competed in basketball last March - it is a summer sport that is played in the winter, and then this past spring in softball and soccer.

Cory has not trained in these sports nearly as much as he has in skiing of course, but since Special Olympics uses divisioning based on team ability, his teams will be competing against teams of similar calibre.  The 4 year Special Olympics summer competition cycle starts this year with local competitions called Regional Qualifiers.  Local teams and individuals who qualify then compete next year at the Provincial Summer Games, which in turn is the qualifying competition for the 2018 National Summer Games, and then onto the World Summer Games in 2019.

Both of Cory's softball and basketball teams are developmental teams that have not participated in real competition before.  At the basketball Regional Qualifier last March, Cory's team lost all 3 of its games though the team improved significantly as the games progressed.

In softball, most of the athletes declined to participate, so it appeared Cory would not have the opportunity to qualify in that sport.  But he was invited to join a neighbouring community's team, though it was at a higher ability level.  But he managed to fit in well with his new teammates, and contributed his share to the team's 2 & 2 record at the qualifying tournament - earning a 3rd place finish where the coach awarded the team trophy to Cory.

Here's Cory hitting a single in the game against SOBC - North Shore:



And a patient at-bat here advances a teammate from 1st base to 3rd in the game versus SOBC - Burnaby...



An infield single to score a runner from 3rd in the same game....



Cory then advances to 2nd base....



And scores from 3rd base:




The team had a successful weekend and Cory had a great time.  Unfortunately, some players on the team decided not to play at the last minute, and the team did not have the regulation number of players required and were automatically disqualified from qualifying for the Summer Games next year.

So Cory's last chance to qualify now is in Soccer.

This was Cory's first year in Soccer and he plays on a lower level ability team here in Delta.  The team played 4 games over the Qualifying weekend in Abbotsford, where they won one game and lost 3.  But they allowed only 13 goals and therefore finished ahead of another team that only won one game but allowed 22 goals.

So, rather interestingly, Cory may very well have qualified for next summer's Provincial Games in a sport he purposely chose to give himself an extra opportunity to qualify,  On the last day of his last sport, and on a technicality!

I tend to get a bit more vocal when Cory is still learning the basics of his sport....

But then shows me a bit more skill than just the basics...some good ball control here to avoid a defender...

And then he takes his first ever corner kick, (you can tell it's his first time when the referee needs to tell him where to place the ball!) and even takes a moment to direct his teammates....considering he never practiced this, I am rather surprised - and impressed -  by his ability to understand and take control of the situation...and in fact puts the ball in a pretty good position for his teammates...

A good pass here to a teammate with Cory taking a good shot on goal on a rebound...

And Cory even tries a nifty give and go - using the correct strategy of waiting until the defender starts moving forward - but unfortunately his teammates do not return his pass.




So now it's a matter of waiting.  In Special Olympics, athletes are permitted to compete in the Regional Qualifiers in as many sports as they wish.  But if they qualify in more than one sport, they must choose only one.  So now it's a lot of work at Special Olympics BC to figure out who has qualified in what sports, then determine which sport each of those athletes will choose.  This can have a negative effect on team sports as athletes may choose a different sport and thereby reducing the number of players on any given team, to the point that they may no longer have enough athletes to play.  So it will likely be late summer before all is determined.

Disappointing News

Special Olympics Canada has announced their team that will compete at the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games in Austria, and Cory is not on it.

He did everything he could, by working so hard and becoming the 2nd best skier in Special Olympics Canada, - behind the current World Champion - but there were other novice and intermediate skiers who won their divisions, and therefore earned more points.  Cory finished 5th in his age group, and the top 4 are all on the team.  Fortunately, the 2 points that were taken from him by that timing error that his Special Olympics coach refused to do anything about (the skier who benefitted from the error is in the coach's own club), did not make a difference.  Cory would have finished 5th even with the two points.

Cory has been working hard at his race skills for about 10 years now, and he has earned a well-deserved break.  So definitely no summer training this year, and next winter will likely be skiing just for the fun of it, with maybe some gate training with BC Adaptive at their Building our Best camps, like the one at Whistler last January.  His next important race won’t be until 2019, so some time off from intensive training will do him a lot of good.  

 

He will then reassess what he wants to do next, and see if he decides to take another shot at getting to the Nationals & Worlds.

For now, he is in the softball and soccer programs with Special Olympics (soccer is totally new to Cory this year), with hopes of qualifying for the Provincial Games next summer, where the teams could qualify for the 2018 National Summer Games.

Both of Cory's slalom runs at the National Games as shown on Rogers live-streaming broadcast on March 5, 2016.

Proof that it really was Silver

Following up on the timing malfunction at the National Games that resulted in a Bronze Medal for Cory, there is video proof now that the time posted for the Silver Medalist - we'll call him J - was incorrect and in fact, Cory really did earn a Silver Medal in Slalom.  Unfortunately, the race organizers refuse to do anything about it.  So much for fair competition eh.

Rogers TV live-streamed the event and here is a video of part of J's first run, clearly showing that it took him 22 seconds to complete the last 17 gates - more than half - of the race course:



Now here is J's second run, starting from the same gate...



which clearly shows that he completed the same part of the race course in about the same time he completed it in his first run, 22 seconds.

Now since they posted a time for his second run that was 9 seconds faster than his first, that means he would have had to ski the first 12 gates in his second run 9 seconds faster than he did in his first run, and then completely slow down to ski the last 17 gates at the same speed as his first run - that is just not possible.

But the organizers refuse to look at the video and won't admit that the clock obviously stopped for J's second run, when that blowing snow that obscures him from view in the video caused the sensor at the finish line to stop the clock.

The official times posted for Cory and J are as follows:

1st Run:
Cory 39.21
J 43.51 (4.3 seconds slower than Cory)

2nd Run
Cory 39.67
J 34.85  (4.82 seconds faster than Cory)

In this video, Cory is on the left and J is on the right, both racing the bottom half of the race course starting from the same point.  And J is certainly not nearly 5 seconds faster, in fact, Cory seems to finish about 1 second ahead of J. (15.98 elapsed seconds vs 16.97)



So there it is, clear proof that Cory earned a Silver medal in Slalom at the National Games.  Since Cory's Head Coach chose not to ask for a review of the results when the times were posted (it should be noted that J is in the Head Coach's own club), there is nothing now that can be done.

Fortunately, it appears that the loss of the 2 points associated with a Bronze medal versus Silver will not affect Cory's standing in the selection process for Team Canada for next year's worlds.

But shame on the race organizers to refuse to rectify their error, and well, just how wrong was it of the Team BC Head Coach to allow the results to stand without asking for a review.

But we'll end the season on a much more positive note.  Cory achieved exactly what he set out to achieve and that was to become the 2nd best alpine ski racer in Special Olympics in Canada.

2nd best in Giant Slalom, 2nd best in Super Giant Slalom, and yes, clearly now, 2nd best in Slalom.

And with the gold medalist being the best skier in the world as well as best skier in Canada, that puts Cory in the top 5 ski racers in Special Olympics in the world!

Now that is a positive note!

CADS 2016

Cory attended his second Canadian Association of Disabled Skiers Annual Festival in Kimberley, BC - the same location as his first visit in 2014.

It's a mountain we really enjoy, a great racer mountain with long wide runs, fun terrain, and terrific BC interior snow (much drier snow than on the coast).  And a great view of the valley below and the Purcell Mountains across the way.

Cory also enjoys the format of the event.  As his big races are over by the time of the Festival, it's just a couple of hours of race training in the morning, with a couple of hours of free-skiing in the afternoon, then a couple of hours of socializing with friends in the apres-ski hospitality room.

 Racers & coaches preparing for training...

In training action wearing his new Team BC jacket...

Course inspection under a spectacular blue sky....

and a race course all to yourself....

enough with the training, let's just ski!

Mountain weather is always changeable and we got a bit of fresh snow during a lift ride up...

some steep terrain...

And what is ski racing if not a chance to enjoy a cold locally-brewed beer (Kokanee!) in a hot tub...

A small certification ceremony for the racers marks the end of the Festival...

so then it's on to spectacular Fernie Alpine Resort for our first day at this legendary location

And a long drive home - 13 hours - with some snowy conditions in spots made for an appropriate end to a terrific season for Cory.  A season where he set himself a tough goal, worked hard to prepare for competition, and skied the best races of his life, mission accomplished.

Not quite March Madness

Well, ski season isn't quite over but Cory has plans to participate in some summer sports too, namely soccer, softball, and basketball.  This year is the regional qualifying year for summer sports in Special Olympics where local teams compete to see who will represent our area at next year's Provincial Games, in a yet to be announced location.

Not long ago, when Cory first started playing basketball, he often ran towards the wrong basket.  It has taken him a while to better understand the game and rather ironically, now finds himself as a team leader on a team where many of his teammates played in a competitive game for the first time ever this past weekend.  So participation was definitely the key aspect and the team suffered a tournament-starting loss of 39-6.  But showed some improvement in the next game, losing 20-7 and then battled hard in their last game to lose only 8-6.  So qualification for the Provincials likely won't happen for Cory in basketball but it was a successful weekend nonetheless just to be part of a team that is just starting to learn to play as a team.

And here's a video that shows exactly that...Cory passes the ball to Ashton, back to Cory, over to Clayton, then Ashton, shot missed but Cory gains the defensive rebound back at the other end, gives to Ashton, over to Sam, who scores the 2 points!



But sometimes it's best just to carry the ball...




or reach for it...

and  running with it again...

It might not have been a podium performance this time but Cory enjoyed a great weekend of team-building.

Soon, he will give soccer a try.

The Nationals!

Cory's National Games in Newfoundland started the night before departure with plenty of gear to pack at home.

The next day - February 28 - and Cory meets up with his Team BC teammates at the south terminal of Vancouver Airport.  Here's Cory holding up the BC flag...

And time for a photo with Coach Mark:

then boarding the chartered Flair Air flight to Deer Lake, Newfoundland....

Mum and Dad followed a few hours later....

Getting our first and impressive glimpse of the race venue, Marble Mountain, in Steady Brook, just outside Corner Brook.

Next day is a training day, and the race course is ready...

And here comes Cory!




Then it's time to head over to the Corner Brook Civic Centre for the Opening Ceremonies...

And the arrival of Team BC...and a wave from Cory when he hears our ringing cowbell...

The next day looks perfect for racing, cold but dry with some sunshine...

First up is a divisioning run, used to place the racers in the appropriate division so that they all race against others of similar ability.  As expected, Cory's time places him in the top division where he will compete against the current World Champion (M) who is from Quebec, and his rival from BC (J).

Then it's race time and Cory posts a time of 43.01 seconds, closely followed by his BC rival (J) with a time of 43.60, but both well behind the World Champion's (M)) time of 39.30 seconds.  In the second run, M improves to 39.02, J also improves to 43.20, and Cory posts a slightly slower time of 43.11.

And that means SILVER!

The official results:

Onto the following day, but racing is cancelled due to rain...a chance to see some of spectacular Newfoundland...Cox's Cove in particular:

By the time we get to Lark Harbour just and hour or so later, the weather has changed again:

And winter comes back in full force for the next day of racing, cold and very windy for both Super G and Slalom scheduled for the last day of competition.

 The World Champion sets the time to beat in the Super G with a run of 33.41 seconds:

But Cory is not far behind with a great run of 35.46 seconds, good for Silver #2!  And only about 2 seconds slower than the World Champ!!

Here's the medal presentation for Cory:

Final Results for Super G:

And finally, Slalom.  And things didn't go quite so well even though Cory skied his very best as he always seems to do in the most important events.

He looks great here in his first Slalom run, posting a time of 39.21 seconds, well behind M at 32.85 but comfortably ahead of J at 43.51.  A 4.3 second lead is a very comfortable lead in a 40 second race in Alpine Skiing.





All Cory had to do now was to avoid any major mistakes on his second run and a 3rd Silver Medal was his.

But something did go wrong...with the timing system, not Cory's skiing.  His second run was very similar to his first, with a time of 39.67.





The timing system was fine for Cory's run.  You can see the clock display here, and it had been 100% accurate with the posted final results.  But for a few of the racers during the 2nd slalom run, the display clock stopped.  For the World Champion M, it stopped just before he reached the finish line, and with such a big lead it didn't affect the race results.

But for J, who was 4.3 seconds behind Cory after the first run, the clock stopped when he was about 5 gates from the finish of the race course.  There is usually a manual system to back up the electronic one and we figured they would make the adjustment to J's time.  But unexplicably, the official results showed a time of 34.85 for J, nearly 9 seconds faster than his first run.

Such a difference is unheard of in Alpine Skiing, especially in a race that was only 40 seconds long, unless the racer made a major mistake in the first run.  But we saw the entire runs for all 3 racers, and J's first run and second runs looked very similar, just like Cory's and M's runs.  Cory had beaten J at the Provincials last year by 14 seconds over two runs, so it is just not believable to us that J had a second run that was so much faster than his first.

Yet the results stood, and J edged Cory out by .52 seconds for Silver, even though the obvious error had been brought to the attention of Cory's team management.

It was a special week...travelling all the way to Newfoundland, our first time ever there.  Enjoying the hospitality of so many friendly people, and watching Cory perform at his very best when it counted most.  Just a shame to have it marred by a timing malfunction and team management that appeared to just shrug it off and not do anything about it.

At the closing ceremonies, Cory had the chance to meet his MP, Carla Qualtrough, who coincidentally is the Canadian Minister of Sport and Disabilities.

After a snowstorm delayed his Flair Air flight back to Vancouver by 18 hours, we were at the airport early in the morning to welcome Cory home.

A hug from mum....

Back home, putting away those hard-earned medals...

His race bib....

 Check out the Newfoundland dogs on the medal ribbons!

In 2012 at Marmot Basin in Jasper, Alberta, Cory earned 3 Bronze Medals.  He knew Gold would be difficult with the World Champion also being a Canadian.  But he set his goal for 3 Silvers, and maybe with a bit of luck one Gold instead of Silver.  Well, we believe he did earn 3 Silvers, but the smile on his face here shows he's pretty happy with one Bronze instead of a Silver anyways.

And he continues to break into a big smile whenever we talk of the 2016 Special Olympics National Winter Games in Corner Brook.  What an terrific experience for us all!

It will probably be early May before we find out whether Cory has earned enough points with 2 silvers and one bronze to qualify for Team Canada to compete in Schladming, Austria next year at the World Games.  That's been his real goal.  So now, he's worked hard, prepared so well, and done all he could, now we wait.

Next up though is the Canadian Association of Disabled Skiers Annual Festival in Kimberley, BC.  Always a good time!