By Tara Lindemann
The Haldimand Press
CAYUGA—There has been no shortage of summer delights in Haldimand, but Cayuga resident Ben Edlund believes the highlight of them all has been Tuesday evenings at Cayuga Kinsmen Ball Park to cheer on the Haldimand Hurricanes.
“I could hear the hollering from the river, and curiosity got the better of me,” he said. “Been coming ever since.”
He added, “If your heart is empty, fill up at the ball diamond. It’s where Haldimand’s heart beats.”
Special Olympics Haldimand’s softball team is composed of 13 players and 11 volunteers who play every Tuesday evening at 7:30 p.m. from after Victoria Day weekend to the last Tuesday before Labour Day.
This year the team celebrated the season ending by sharing a cone (or two) of Hewitt’s ice cream with the dedicated crowd of Hurricane supporters.
“I am going to miss baseball, it was really fun,” said Cayuga resident Dominika Rozwodowski. “I really loved it, and everybody is nice.”
Rozwodowski’s favourite position has steadfastly been short-stop.
“It’s fast, and I like the action there,” she said, although according to this reporter – also team coach – Rozwodowski can jump into any position when asked.
Fans such as Angela Tzemis have described the game as “magical” and “inspiring.”
“It’s an Alice in Wonderland version of baseball, which is way more fun than the real thing,” she said. “It’s where the only rules are the important ones, like cheering everyone’s efforts to play, whether it’s someone who needs a hand or there’s a radical interpretation of the game or they knock it out hard left field.
“If only everyone treated each other with that much grace.”
The game is a welcome hour to congregate with friends. Covid restrictions, much like everywhere else, meant no baseball for anyone for a while, but for Haldimand’s community of people with developmental challenges, restrictions took longer to lift – and by then, former longtime coach Cherie Kemp moved to New Brunswick.
“It was tough on everyone,” said Special Olympics Haldimand community coordinator, Nancy Dewitt. “It’s a vital social hub as well as an opportunity for physical activity.”
Special Olympics Haldimand is a chapter of Special Olympics Canada, but the movement to provide this opportunity is global.
Although founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the competition was inspired by Canadian researcher, Dr. Frank Hayden, a sport scientist at the University of Toronto who was studying fitness among people with developmental disabilities. He proved that lack of opportunity, rather than disability, prevented people from participating in physical and recreational activity. The first Canadian Special Olympics event was held in Toronto in 1969 with Shriver in attendance.
Special Olympics Canada has about 41,000 athletes, over 17,500 volunteers, and runs 6,175 programs across Canada. Some teams and athletes compete globally – 89 went to Special Olympics Berlin this year.
Jean Schurr and Nancy Dewitt started up the Haldimand chapter 34 years ago.
“I had a little sister in a wheelchair, and I was working at the bowling alley at the time that Jean Schurr came in and approached me about starting Special Olympics in the area,” said Dewitt. “So we went together and we got it all set up and got it all started. In 1999, my sister passed away, and I was going to stop, but I didn’t.”
Five pin bowling was the first sport, and baseball was started a couple years after that.
Haldimand Hurricanes are not wholly competitive; rather the team chooses to honour the multitude of abilities by playing unconventionally, allowing for everyone to play their hearts out.
“It’s a lot with the getting together, being as one basically as a team and everybody supports each other,” said Dewitt. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a better player or not, but the guys are amazing and if you have a bad day, come out and be with Special Olympics because your day will turn around.”
Certainly, Hagersville resident Natalie Lindemann said she was glad her sister Tara “got the team going again.”
“She’s such a silly billy, and she’s a wacky coach. She likes to tag me out but I get by her every time…. I need help to get around the bases, but it’s good exercise, and …” she paused to consider her sentence, “and I get to see my friends!”
