Bronze Boys

Caption: From left, Glendon Arsenault, Mark Ramsay and Travis Perry stand together Wednesday morning in Summerside days after winning a bronze medal at the Special Olympics in Athens, Greece.

Prince County’s bronze boys

Four Prince county men win bronze at Special Olympic games

Caption: From left, Glendon Arsenault, Mark Ramsay and Travis Perry stand together Wednesday morning in Summerside days after winning a bronze medal at the Special Olympics in Athens, Greece. 

Ryan Quigley

Journal Pioneer

The Canada East men’s softball team arrived home from the Special Olympic games in Athens, Greece with a special souvenir from the trip.

The team beat host nation Greece in the bronze medal game 16-5 and included three Prince county men as players, Glendon Arsenault, Mark Ramsay and Travis Perry with Lew Champion, an assistant coach with the team from Prince county as well.

The team went 2-2 in the tournament, including their win in the bronze medal game, losing to both Russia and the United States while beating Greece twice.

Champion said he was proud to see his team walk away with a medal.

“It was unreal, but I think the biggest thing was after they presented the medals,” he said. “(All the teams) were shaking hands, high fiving, one another, like real friends. That was something.”

Champion, who traded hats with one of the Americans, said the sportsmanship wasn’t just at the congratulatory greetings at the end of the tournament.

“In one of the games the guy got a hit and ran like hell for first base and tripped and fell. The American first basemen came and helped him up.”

Champion had nothing but compliments for the host nation of Greece.

“We were so well received in Greece,” he said. “The people in Greece were just so unbelievably friendly.”

The teammates were ecstatic about their medal win.

“It feels good to come home and show my parents how proud I am,” said Perry. “My friends, my family back home I was thinking about them.”

“It feels great. I never represented Canada before but when I heard the crowd in the background it got my adrenaline going,” said Ramsay.

“Great. It was nice seeing the parents at the airport,” said Arsenault. “And the fans.”

The three men talked about what they thought was key to their medal win.

“We hit the ball,” said Perry. “We tried to do our best and that’s what we did and that’s how we won the bronze.”

“I’d say (the crowd) was a big factor cause there was our country, the USA was cheering their team on and Russia too,” said Ramsay. “We played real well.”

“Everyone was playing good,” said Arsenault. “The crowd support too."