Samantha Morin loves to skate.
The 14-year-old from Mississauga travelled to Thunder Bay along with friends Rheauna Taggart and Jessica Young participated in the Special Olympics Ontario Winter Games on Friday and Saturday. The girls laced up and braved the cold to show off their routines at the figure skating competition in front of the cheering fans.
Her first time at the Special Olympics, Samantha said she felt nervous about the competition but was still confident in her routine.
“I’ve never done anything like this in front of so many people before,” Samantha said before her performance.
Samantha’s mother, Sharon, acted as a chaperone for the three girls. Morin said her daughter used to play hockey but when she got older she couldn’t keep up with some of the other players.
To keep Samantha skating, Morin often drove her and her friends to Hamilton because there were no Special Olympics figure skating competition opportunities in Mississauga.
If it wasn’t for the Special Olympics, Samantha wouldn’t have been able to do any activities, she said.
“The Special Olympics gets her competing against other kids,” Morin said. “She’s one of the young ones competing. She’s been working hard and she loves skating. Without the Special Olympics, she wouldn’t be able to do any activities.”
Samantha’s coach, Lindsay Tarbutt, 17, from Stoney Creek, said whenever Samantha goes onto the ice she’s energetic and social.
“She loves to be out there,” Tarbutt said. “You can just tell that skating is her thing and it’s what she wants to do. I think we will do well. They’re all positive but they know that it is about having fun not about winning.”
To help prepare Samantha for her competition, Lindsay would give her a 15 minute private lesson followed by an hour-and-a-half long lesson from the other Special Olympic instructors.
Lindsay has worked with the Special Olympics for several years, but this is her first year as a coach. She said she wanted to go to a university for child abuse studies and her work at the Special Olympics has given her a great head start on that career.
“This is what I love to do,” she said.
