“He’s a man of few words,” coach Chris Simon says of skier Cameron Oliver. “But he’s always excited to get out.”
At the cusp of turning 22, Cameron is preparing for national competition in Calgary as part of Team Ontario's Alpine skiing squad for Special Olympics. He initially tried the sport through Autism Ontario and took it on competitively through Special Olympics last year.
This year’s season began with dryland training in the fall, which also included clinics on nutrition and dealing with stress. He then transitioned to the hill when the resorts opened.
Cameron, who lives in Innisfil, first participated in bowling and kayaking through Special Olympics when he was 13 and living in Nova Scotia.
When he joined the Special Olympics ski team, it was with a competitive edge.
“It looked fun,” he explains.
And that’s “absolutely” what it turned out to be, he adds.
Cameron qualified during the provincials at Blue Mountain Resort near Collingwood last year. In the coming days, he’ll be among a crew of 23 Barrie-area athletes competing in Calgary.
His dad, Christian Oliver, never considered Cameron to be competitive, but has seen that edge develop as the event nears.
“Seeing him prepare for nationals, I can see in him the desire to get better, the desire to do well in him,” says Christian. “He’s got a YouTube channel, he puts out his own videos and lately he’s put on stuff about going to Calgary and nationals.”
Special Olympics Ontario aims to enrich the lives of Ontarians with an intellectual disability through sport. The first sports competitions organized under the Special Olympics banner were held at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1968 and, since then, Special Olympics has become a worldwide movement for inclusion.
In Ontario, the organization retains its grassroots structure with community-level programming led by volunteer coaches and volunteer councils.
Athletes compete against others of similar ability, allowing for a more level playing field. And the program is organized over a four-year competition cycle leading to the World Games for winter sports, to be held in Turin, Italy next year. The Berlin World Summer Games were in 2023.
“It’s a great environment to build confidence and build skills,” says Cameron’s dad.
Special Olympics, Christian adds, provides wonderful opportunities for athletes to be part of a community while achieving a sense of accomplishment through sport.
“This is his, this is all his," he says. “He has a lot of communication barriers, but I think being involved in Special Olympics has really helped him overcome some of those barriers.”
Coach Chris applied for the volunteer position and underwent training through the Special Olympics coaching apprenticeship program, which sees him working with athletes locally with the goal of getting national-level experience.
By day, he’s works remotely as a project lead in the Canadian Nuclear Lab in Chalk River, north of Ottawa.
“Snow Valley was kind enough to donate a pass for him and myself, so we’ve been able to ski several times on our own,” he says, along with training camp days at Blue Mountain with rest of ski team.
“I’ve worked with Cameron quite a bit this winter and I’ve seen him grow from what I would call a very cautious skier to a very ambitious skier. He’s still in the novice category, which is the beginner for competition," the coach says. "There’s still lots for him to grow, lots of ways he can improve. But the improvement he has seen really for the last six and a half weeks that we’ve been on snow has been tremendous.”
Cameron’s mom, Sharon Oliver, calls the experience “super great,” allowing him to travel for the first time without his family.
“It’s a safe way for him to be away from us," she says.
“I’m excited,” said Cameron, who is keen to make his first trip to Alberta and meet other athletes from across the country.
For more information about Special Olympics Ontario, click here.
