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The 2017 Special Olympics Saskatchewan Summer Games were held in Moose Jaw from June 16-18. 

The event saw 320 athletes from 18 communities, who competed in eight summer sports. The sports were 5-pin bowling, 10-pin bowling, athletics, bocce, golf, soccer, softball and swimming. 

The opening ceremonies were held on Friday night and the games ended on Sunday. 

The Parkland Valley team had an excellent showing. The athletes were from Yorkton, Melville and the area. 

Scott Weinheimer got a silver medal in golf. His coach was Shaun Guest. 

Stacey Pasloski got five medals for swimming: one gold, one silver and three bronze medals. Her coach was Ashley Benko.

Dustin Sobkow and Geoffrey Laroque both got silver medals in bowling. Their coach was Trudy Vanderhulst. 

In bocce, Kyle Marianchuk got a gold medal, Greg Weber got a silver medal and Dustin Miller won a silver medal. The bocce coaches were Sherry Pasloski and Caroline Krakalovich. 

In division B, Mike Schmuck and Dustin Sobkow received silver medals, and Nadia and Krystal Peterson won bronze medals.

The three bowlers from Melville, Eric Leniczek, Geoffrey Laroque and Terra Hahn, got silver. 

Betty-Ann Shalkowsky was the chef de mission and Christopher Smith and Kate Kelly were our mission staff.

More big wins 

Betty-Ann Shalkowsky received the prestigious ‘Honorary Life Member’ award. She is the head coach for the Special Olympics Yorkton. This award is presented to long time members of the Special Olympics Saskatchewan who have made extraordinary contributions to the organization. 

Shalkowsky has been involved with the Special Olympics for almost 25 years. In that time, she’s been an integral part of and the driving force behind the inception and sustainability of Special Olympics programming. In the award write up, it explained that she truly loves the athletes and has made it her life’s work to help them succeed. She continues to go above and beyond in every capacity and tirelessly works to ensure that all individuals with all intellectual disability have a place to go and feel accepted. 

Yorkton also won an award - the ‘Community Excellence Award.’ This award is selected by the Special Olympics Saskatchewan provincial office and is awarded to a community that shows a genuine effort to have high-level and quality programming at the community level, as well as with provincial initiatives and fundraisers.