Local athletes compete at Special Olympics Ontario Summer Games

Five athletes from Special Olympics Ontario - Tillsonburg competed at the 2025 Special Olympics Ontario Summer Games in Brantford, July 10-13. From left are Matt MacNeil and Jamie Van Parys, bocce; and AnnMarie D’Hondt, Dylan Osipenko and Will Ypma, golf. (Chris Abbott Photo)

Chris Abbott, Post Correspondent

Five athletes from Special Olympics Ontario - Tillsonburg competed at the 2025 Special Olympics Ontario Summer Games in Brantford, July 10-13.

Representing seven regions in the province, including South West Ontario, more than 750 athletes competed in five sports - athletics, bocce, golf, soccer and softball.

Tillsonburg’s Jamie Van Parys and Matt MacNeil competed as singles in the bocce M1 division. Van Parys (6-1) won a silver medal, finishing second in the M1 men’s division. Wayne McKeown of Collingwood won the gold.

“I had fun,” said Van Parys. “It was really fun. Hot, very hot, but very fun.”

Due to heat warnings, all sports on Saturday, July 12 were adjusted to keep athletes, coaches and volunteers safe. Events ran from 8 a.m. to noon only.

“I think it affected everybody, pretty equally,” said 25-year-old Van Parys, after competing at his first Summer Games. “Your hands were more slippery, you had to wipe your face a lot, the sweat was dripping down your forehead.”

His only loss was his first match of the round-robin tournament against McKeown.

“It was 6-4… I made a mistake, and it cost me the match,” said Van Parys. “The very last throw. I threw the little white ball in the wrong spot. I realized after he threw his first ball it was a pretty big mistake.”

It’s something he can learn from, Van Parys said, when it comes to strategy.

MacNeil, 35, competing at his second Summer Games, was edged 6-5 by Van Parys and 8-4 by McKeown during his six-game round robin.

“They made good shots that I couldn’t come back from,” said MacNeil, recalling a very close 9-8 loss.

“Jamie knew my weakness. I give him that,” MacNeil smiled. “Overall, I loved it. The social media… met a couple guys that I looked up to. Hockey player Brandon Montour and TSN’s Gino Reda.”

In golf, AnnMarie D’Hondt, Will Ypma and Dylan Osipenko played at the Walter Gretzky Municipal Golf Course.

Osipenko, 18, from Norwich was competing in his first Summer Games in the M4 golf division.

“Good,” said Osipenko, pleased with his two nine-hole rounds (58-62-120), especially his chipping.

“I like the ‘closer to the green’ shots,” he said.

Osipenko, who finished two strokes behind the two golfers who shared M4 bronze medals, said he wants to improve his putting.

“The division was really close together, which was nice,” said co-coach Julie Osipenko. “It was very close.”

D’Hondt, 35, won a silver medal in her Level 5 (F2) women’s division.

“It was really, really hot,” D’Hondt smiled after two 18-hole rounds of 104-104. “A couple rough holes. One hole, I chipped in – I was on the rough patch and I actually chipped it in.

“It was pretty close between third and second,” she noted.

Ypma, 49, also won a silver medal in the men’s M3 golf division, one stroke ahead of the bronze medallist.

“It was about average,” said Ypma, recalling two 18-hole rounds of 118-111. “I had some good holes, I had some bad holes.”

“The other guy (gold medallist Michael James from Milton) was in another group, so we didn’t really know how close it was,” said co-coach Ron Becht. “You play better when you don’t know – you just play your own game.”