Special Olympics Athlete Ambassadors Help Plan Upcoming National Games
I’m excited because I know how happy the athletes are.
Said Special Olympics Athlete Ambassador Linda McDonald, when she and her husband Chuck McDonald were interviewed about their role in the upcoming Special Olympics Canada Summer Games Medicine Hat 2026.
I know the Medicine Hat residents will see how excited our athletes get, even when they don’t win, they still get excited.
The two of them met while studying at Medicine Hat College, in the one-year Transitional Vocational Training Program, designed to help people with intellectual/developmental disabilities learn life skills and find employment. Chuck has been a Special Olympics Alberta athlete since 1993, and he introduced Linda to the programs, which she joined in 1998.
I enjoyed Special Olympics, and I didn’t really do sports going to school because I didn’t think I could with a learning disability. I also made friends through Special Olympics!
Linda said. Having been married ever since 2004, they play softball and curling together. Linda also does figure skating, while Chuck said he used to participate in Special Olympics ten pin bowling, bocce, golf, powerlifting, and basketball. Their fellow athlete ambassador Gavin Harker also plays multiple sports: 5-pin bowling, curling, basketball, and bocce.
Unlike the McDonalds, Gavin has only been an athlete in Special Olympics for less than three years, but he appears to be just as willing to stay in the community. Introduced to Special Olympics by his best friend Nigel—someone his mother Michelle Harker described as having a similar type of autism—Gavin got hooked.
It was very cool just to see everyone there. The amount of people like me, others like me that have different needs.
Gavin said about competing in Special Olympics. Gavin and Chuck both competed in the Special Olympics Alberta 2025 Provincial Games in Grand Prairie, and their recent experience made their advice more meaningful to the Games’ organizers. Additionally, because none of the Ambassadors made it to the National Games as competitors, there is no conflict of interest in their current volunteer role.
On top of Provincials, Chuck McDonald has been to three previous Special Olympics Canada National Games. During his second games, he got to travel there with Linda, who also made it to Nationals through powerlifting.
I went to Sudbury in 1998 for swimming, and then Brandon, Manitoba in 2006 for 10 pin bowling. And then in 2018 I went to P.E.I for 10 pin bowling.
Chuck recalled. Linda said she and her fellow ambassadors “helped plan the games”, providing feedback on what food is served to the athletes, brainstorming ideas on how to help members of each Provincial or Territorial team visiting their city, and travelling to local schools to teach students about the upcoming Special Olympics Canada Games. Gavin said that the group of athlete ambassadors and their coaches noticed something wrong with how food was served at their last Provincial Games, which will be done different during the Nationals.
“In Provincials,” Michelle said, “they fed [the athletes] like they were children.” “It was incredibly small portions,” Gavin chuckled.” So, now they’re doing bigger portions at Medicine Hat.”
Athlete Ambassadors also came up with the Games’ official slogan “We Shine Together” as well as what should be included in the tote bags that will be given to all the arriving Special Olympics teams.
“They have stress balls in there,” she continued, “different colour sunglasses, and the sunglasses’ colour represent what province or territory the athletes are from. We also thought of what would be cool to buy [from the official merch store].”
While Linda and Chuck promoted the Games by going to local schools, Gavin was asked to help represent Special Olympics Alberta in the news. He was recently interviewed by CBC and will also appear in an upcoming episode of the Bring Back the Porch podcast. As if that was not impressive enough, he also appeared alongside Medicine Hat mayor Linnsie Clark during a news conference about the upcoming Games.
“They were in front of a couple cameras,” Michelle explained, “they were presenting a couple of cheques to Special Olympics from some big sponsors. After that was done, he did a little interview with the mayor.”
“Oh she [Mayor Linnsie] seemed very nice,” Gavin added, “onto the fact she felt very open.” "They talked for quite a while,” Michelle agreed, “and even after the interview part was done, they just had a long conversation.”
While the Ambassador’s role in planning The Games is mostly concluded, they will still be volunteering during the competitions themselves, being on standby for any volunteers who need their input making last-minute decisions to help the week long event go as smoothly as possible for everyone involved!