By Piers Pollard
I am the father of Ben, who has Down’s Syndrome and has just turned 40. My wife and I have been members of the DSA since Ben’s birth.
We’ve often been inspired by the stories shared by the DSA about the wonderful achievements of children, young people and adults who have Down’s Syndrome.
Back in March this year, athletes took part in a Special Olympic Ski Training event in Serre Chevalier in the French Alps, organised by The South East Special Ski Olympic Group. This was the first ski trip for the group since 2019, due to Covid. The Ski Training has been held in the French Alps for a number of years, including the National Special Ski Olympic event in 2016 at Serre Chevalier.
This year the group included 13 disabled young people, seven of whom had Down’s Syndrome. There were seven BASI instructors with the group plus parents and other family carers.
The South East Special Olympic Ski Group has regular training sessions at Brentwood Dry Ski Slope, Essex.
Find out more about these winter sports fans…
Chloe Sharples is 37 years old and has been skiing for about 20 years now! She also swims and does Zumba classes which she really enjoys.
Alex Fearne is 22 years old and has been skiing since he was 12 and trains once a month at the Norfolk Ski & Snowsport Centre. He plays football every Saturday with the Community Sports Foundation, dances every Thursday with a group called D4Dance and, swims three days a week.
Ben Pollard is 40 years old. He has been skiing for about 8 years. He enjoys the gym, swimming, once a week, regular solo cycling with family members (two Capital to Coast tandem rides and three solo rides for the same event) and he has done 14 Park Runs.
Kathryn Nicholl is 23 years old and has been skiing since she was about 7 years old. She also swims with a club called the ‘Sharks’ weekly and does dancing twice a week with Magpie dance. She is currently learning how to ride a two wheeler bike. Kathryn is doing work experience in a children’s nursery which is organised through Bromley College and Mencap.
Lauren Payne is 27 years old and has been skiing for about 15 years culminating in being part of the GB team at the 2017 special Olympics World Winter Games in Schladming. She is also a dancer with the Anjali Dance Company as well as Magpie Dance & Parable Dance.
Corinna Copley is 39 years old has been skiing since she was 19 and been attending regional and national races regularly. She has been swimming and attending swimming galas since she was 10 years old. In 2016 she attended the Special Olympics World summer games in Los Angeles and won a gold and a silver medal. She’s also learned to cycle and attended regional and national competitions with SOGB. At present she’s learning to play cricket and netball every Monday and Tuesday and goes bowling and keep fit with Bromley Mencap every Tuesday and Wednesday. She also attends a drama class every Saturday and performs at the end of term. In addition, she also continues to attend various adult education classes twice a week. In between gaps to all of the above she goes to the gym or goes to long walks with her mum.
William Cottrell is 34 years old. He started skiing when he was 14, firstly with the Uphill Ski Club then Special Olympics Southeast. In 2009 he won a bronze medal for Slalom at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Idaho, USA. He plays soccer for the Charlton Upbeats and has represented his country at Golf in Wales, Ireland, Macau, Austria and won a silver medal in Abu Dhabi at the Special Olympics World Summer Games in 2019. Sport has been a wonderful way for William to socialise and compete with people from all over the world.