Next year will mark the first time in nearly three decades that Special Olympics Ontario has held an event in Chatham-Kent, but it will also represent the continuation of a legacy passed down by police officers within the municipality.
Members of the Chatham-Kent Police Service and Special Olympics Ontario held a media event on Wednesday to officially announce that the municipality will be hosting the 2024 Special Olympics Ontario School Championship Games on June 10-12.
Special Olympics Ontario Vice President Cody Jansma said Chatham hosted the Special Olympics Ontario Summer Games back in 1997, which had been championed by two local police officers — the late Constable Mike Currie and the late Constable Rob Herder.
Jansma added that the memory and legacy of those two officers and what they stood for will continue into the School Championship Games in 2024.
“It’s safe to say Rob’s legacy is living on and is shining bright in his son, [Sergeant] Jason Herder who was a driving force to bring these games back to Chatham,” said Jansma.
Sergeant Herder said his introduction to Special Olympics Ontario happened many years ago when he was 12 years old.
“My involvement with Special Olympics Ontario actually began in ’97 being voluntold at the time by [my] dad to run around and drop off medals and meals to the athletes throughout Chatham,” said Herder. “There was a lot of running around with Dad to try and fundraise for these games, and that was my first experience with them.”
It was many years later when Herder became a police officer himself that Currie, a fellow officer with the police service, brought him into the fold as a volunteer for the Special Olympics Ontario Law Enforcement Torch Run.
“If both of them were here, I would be taking every single piece of advice I could from them. But we’re certainly going to wing it and know that they’re both looking over our shoulders and guiding us in the right direction,” said Herder.
Jason’s father Rob, who served as the ’97 Summer Games treasurer, passed away in 2020. Currie, who was the Summer Games co-chair, passed away two years later in 2022.
“I hope that they’re both looking down and they’re just proud to see that everything that they did and all the hard work they did to get this programming started back in the early 90s is still alive and thriving today,” said Herder.
Next year’s 2024 Special Olympics Ontario School Championship Games will see more than 1,200 athletes with diverse abilities taking part in five sports — track and field, basketball, soccer, floor hockey, and bocce ball.
The three-day event will be held at multiple locations in Chatham and Ridgetown including Ridgetown District High School, the University of Guelph Ridgetown Campus, St. Clair College Thames Campus and at Chatham-Kent Secondary School.
