As the final games are played for the Quesnel Special Olympics winter season, planning is already underway for the summer season.
The Quesnel and Prince George Special Olympics teams joined forces to try and qualify for next year’s provincial games in floor hockey during the April 9 weekend.
They were joined by teams from the Kooteneys and the Okanagan, finishing with a 2-2 record.
Coach Rick Prosk said it was a challenge to find teams for the qualifier for such a large area.
“Part of the difficulty is you need a mass of players,” he said.
“You can put a curling team together with four people, you can put a bowling team together with five people, but for floor hockey, we needed a minimum of 11 people.”
READ MORE: Quesnel Special Olympics Basketball season ends with friendly competition
Even the combined team faced challenges, with three of the nine Quesnel players unable to play due to COVID-19 related illness.
“This was a huge undertaking to put athletes from two programs into one team,” Prosk said.
“We were only able to practice together twice beforehand.”
The combined Prince George/Quesnel team won’t know if they qualified until later on, when the total number of teams at next year’s games is sorted out.
Prosk said the track and soccer programs are already underway for Quesnel’s summer season, with golf expected to start soon.
The Quesnel soccer team will even be travelling to Whitehorse in early May to compete in an invitational tournament.
The trip will be the longest team excursion in club history.
READ MORE: Quesnel Special Olympics team travels to Prince George
Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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