Provincewide parasport games come to Richmond Olympic Oval in May

Original Article published by Richmond News.

Maria Rantanen
Feb 4, 2026 12:30 PM

The OneAbility Games will be held in Richmond from May 13 to 17.

The first ever provincewide games that brings together youth and high-performance athletes in a multi-sport, multi-disability event will be held at the Richmond Olympic Oval in May.

A media launch of the OneAbility Games was held by Court 1 at the Oval on Monday — 100 days before the games start — where organizers outlined plans for the five-day event that will include students in Grades one to 12 as well as high-performance athletes.

The games, which run from May 13 to 17, will feature both school-based activation through the “play stream” and high-performance competition in the “achieve stream,” explained Jessica Kruger, spokesperson with the OneAbility Games, at the launch.

“We’re not just planning a games, we’re building lasting pathways for participation, visibility and adaptive sport across the province,” she added.

OneAbility Games is drawing inspiration from a similar event held annually in Montreal called the Défi Sportif AlterGo Games.

Andrea Carey, director of the OneAbility Games, attended the Montreal games in 2018.

She watched the opening ceremonies with hundreds of athletes with disabilities who went on to take part in a variety of adaptive sports.

“I fell in love with it right away, and I was, like, how do we bring this to the West Coast?” Carey said. “Because every child should have an opportunity to get to play in this way.”

Carey acknowledged support from the Defi Games as well as other local partners in creating the OneAbility Games, adding they will be “so much more” than a five-day event.

“We’re also about creating community connections, creating collaborations and using the power of sport as the catalyst for social inclusion and disability awareness,” she said.

Organizers are expecting 1,100 athletes to take part in the inaugural games at the Richmond Olympic Oval.

The Games will also include the 2026 National Wheelchair Basketball Championships, the 2026 Senior National Goalball Championships and the B.C. Blind Hockey Cup.

Chance encounter led Paralympian to adaptive sports

It was a chance encounter with a soccer referee that introduced Nathan Clement to parasports. Having suffered a stroke at a young age, Clement was scared of sports as a young child.

But a referee saw him playing on the soccer pitch and approached his parents about getting him into parasports.

“For me, my mom, my dad, my grandma, my grandfather, it was a whole new world we didn’t know about,” Clement said.

Clement went on to compete in paraswimming and paracycling, and, in the latter, is a three-time world champion and a Paralympic Games medallist.

Many para athletes’ journeys begin with a chance encounter with someone who knows about adaptive sports.

But Clement said he hopes OneAbility Games will spread the word about a “direct path” to parasports for kids with disabilities.

“As a kid who grew up from the age of two with a disability, seeing this hope, this belief, is one of the most beautiful things,” Clement said.

“This goes beyond paralympic medals, this goes beyond national championships, this goes beyond so many things that happen on the field of play,” he added.

“This is giving kids that chance to make friends that will last a lifetime, and it’s giving families that hope, that belief, that tomorrow and today is going to be a great day.”

For more information about the OneAbilty Games, visit their website.