Submitted by:
Shirley Todosichuk

By Tara Gray
This article is re-published with permission from the Swan Valley Star and Times

Proud to represent the Parkland as one of two players from the Cobras 5 pin bowling team is Angie Ferland, who has qualified to play with the Special Olympics Manitoba (SOM) 5 pin bowling team at the 2014 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games to be held in Vancouver from July 8 to 12. “I feel very excited about going to Vancouver,” said Ferland, who noted that this will be her first time in the British Columbia capital city. “I love being part of the Olympics. It’s an honour to be chosen.”

Programs sanctioned by the SOM for bowlers include the Tigers high school bowling team, and the Cobras 5 pin team, which practices at the Up Your Alley Bowling Center in Swan River. “I started with the Tigers in 2011,” said Ferland, who joined the team when she was in high school. “I’ve bowled with them for two years. Then I started with the Cobras, and it’s been three years (with them). I love it very much.”

Ferland qualified to play on the SOM 5 pin bowling team when she won a gold medal at the provincial qualifier held in Winnipeg at the end of April. She has been advised by an SOM nutritionist, mental trainer, and athletic therapist while in Winnipeg on a trip at the end of October, when the entire team of 15 players got together to get to know each other and receive advice from organizers to prepare her for Vancouver. “I want to see what Vancouver has to offer and I want to bowl my best,” said Ferland, who is excited about the trip and has been putting in double the practice time, adding an extra night of bowling on Wednesdays to her regular practice with the Cobras 5 pin bowling team on Thursdays. “I hope to win a medal. It would be an awesome feeling,” said Ferland. “My team is helping me practice and they cheer me on.”

With $1,500 to raise to cover her travel expenses to Vancouver, Cobras teammates have been making impromptu visits to coffee houses, where Ferland has been known to break out her fiddle for a jam session with accompaniment by Kolton Leslie on guitar to help raise money to go on their trip. “I think it will be a lot of fun,” said Ferland. “I look forward to going there, but eventually I like to come home.” With family and friends cheering her on and helping her raise the money she needs to shine on the SOM 5 pin bowling team in Vancouver, Ferland is continuing to work hard to get ready for the trip of a lifetime. “It’s a dream come true for me to go to Vancouver,” she said.

If you would like to help send the Parkland’s SOM athletes Angie Ferland and Peter Brass to the games, donations can be made at the Swan Valley Credit Union in care of Special Olympics Manitoba Parkland Region, or can also be mailed to Special Olympics Manitoba Parkland Region, Comp 10, RR 2, Swan River, MB R0L 1Z0. Please make cheques payable to Special Olympics Manitoba Parkland Region.

Also, be sure to keep your eye out for future fundraising events that will be happening in the Valley to help send our athletes to the 2014 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games.