The first time Karl Anderson attended the Special Olympics, he sat in the stands and watched other people play at the winter games.
This year, when the summer Special Olympics World Games gets underway in Los Angeles later this month, Anderson will be down on the field, playing softball for Team Canada.
“I’ve never done that before,” Anderson told The Times.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Anderson, who has lived in Langley the last two years, was pitching for a Coquitlam team when he got the call to try out for the Kelowna team that would form the core of the Team Canada softball entry at the Olympics.
He will be leaving for Los Angeles on July 21, accompanied by his parents and older brother Eric, who also competes in the special Olympics but didn’t qualify.
Anderson’s mother, Vera happens to be coach of the Coquitlam softball and speed skating programs for Special Olympics B.C., an accredited chapter of Special Olympics in Canada.
There are currently 49 communities offering Special Olympics programs in B.C.
Anderson and the other B.C. team members earned their Special Olympics Team Canada berth at the Special Olympics Canada 2014 Summer Games in Vancouver last July.
The L.A. games are expected to be seen by 500,000 spectators.
A record 115 Canadian athletes, and 24 coaches will participate in 10 sports, including 57 athletes and 18 coaches and mission staff from B.C.
In all, more than 6,500 athletes from 165 countries will compete in 25 sports in Los Angeles.
“This is a very exciting time for Team Canada” said Chef de Mission for Team Canada, Johnny Byrne.
“Every new member has earned their position on this team through hard work, commitment and their performance at National Games.”To be eligible to participate in Special Olympics, children, youth and adults must have an intellectual disability; a cognitive delay, or a developmental disability, that is, functional limitations in both general learning and adaptive skills.
Anderson is one of four Langley athletes competing. Alastair Singh and Matthew Williams are on the basketball team and Joshua Low will compete in swimming.