97 athletes along with 35 coaches and mission staff flew out of Calgary and Edmonton this morning (February 24) on their way to Thunder Bay, Ontario and the 2020 Special Olympics Canada Winter Games that are on tomorrow through Saturday.  

Among them was Lyndon Chubb of Airdrie, the Head Coach of the Alberta snowshoe team.  This isn't Chubb's first rodeo.  In fact, it's his fourth national games, so Chubb knows what to expect, and that is a lot of unbridled excitement from the athletes who are competing.

"I know what the excitement level for the athletes is because I've seen it in the three previous times I've been there.  The excitement just ramps up and up and up and then they get to the games and it just continues and goes to that extra level when they see that they're not just Team Alberta, they're also looking at athletes from across Canada."

Chubb works regularly with the three snowshoe athletes from Calgary and relies on his associate coaches that he coordinates with for training the other two athletes, one from Edmonton and one from Grande Prairie.  Chubb and the other coaches have been working with the snowshoe team since last June when dryland training commenced.

Chubb explained that the Special Olympics movement is as much about building relationships and making friends as about the sport competition.  But, like every athlete in a high-level competition, Special Olympians want to compete.

"The athletes, they're just looking forward to competing and the culmination of all this hard work will be demonstrated when they go into their races, and finish their races. They're also going to be looking forward to meeting people from across Canada and basically confirming that all the hard work they did was worth it."

The excitement for Chubb lies in seeing the excitement from his athletes.  He said, "I'm just looking forward to watching the athletes compete on a national stage and watching the look on their faces as they see themselves competing against athletes from across Canada.  Right now they've competed against athletes in Alberta and now they get to move it to that next level.  So it's just to see that excitement on their face in preparation for the competitions and during the competitions themselves and then throughout the week in all the social activities we have."

The Special Olympics Canada Winter Games include eight sports ranging from five-pin bowling to speed skating.  

Special Olympics Alberta is dedicated to enriching the lives of Albertans with intellectual disabilities through the joy of sport.  

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