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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, April 18, 2013 | 36 HALTON TRANSMISSION 559 SPEERS RD., #UNIT 3 905-842-0725 www.haltontransmission.com Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Keeping hockey a Special experience by Ryan Glassman Special To The Beaver Sports "Connected to your Community" Bob Batt has never forgotten the newspaper article that changed not only his life but, more importantly, his son Tyler's 22 years ago. "I saw an article in the (Toronto Star) about Pat Flick saying if anyone wanted to play developmentally challenged hockey to call him at his work number," the elder Batt said. "It was a little article, it had his picture and a couple of the players with him. "It was the happiest day of my life. I made the phone call and I said, `I can skate, I've played hockey and I want to coach.' He said, `Okay, we need coaches too,' and that's how it started." Flick's club was called the North York Grandravine Tornadoes, who played out of the Grandravine Arena. And when Batt made the offer to be a coach, it wasn't so that he could fulfill a dream of his own. He did it because he wanted Tyler, then 20 years old, to have the opportunity to be part of a hockey team for the first time in his life. Tyler was born in Montreal and started skating when he was four years of age, but there was never any program available for special needs hockey players. As Tyler got older, his father began to believe he might never have a chance to participate in the sport. "We went skating for years with Tyler (in Montreal) and when we found hockey here, that's what made me go, `Wow, this is neat,'" said Batt, who moved with his wife and four children to Oakville in 1985. "And they accepted everybody. (Pat) didn't say he had to come try out. Just bring him down, he's going to play." Tyler began playing with the club and his father started as a coach soon after the initial call was made in October 1991. Three years later, the two took part in the first special hockey tournament as the Grandravine Tornadoes travelled by bus to St. Louis to play the host Gateway Locomotives. "We had the neatest jerseys. They had a red maple leaf on them, almost like Team Canada has now," Bob Batt recalls. "It was unbelievable for a first time (tournament). It was well organized. The parents helped us out in St. Louis, treated us like kings and queens. Our first tournament was the best, it really stands out." Neither Batt nor his son could have predicted then just how large the event would end up becoming. The tournament, now in its 19th year, has far more than just two teams. This year's Special Hockey Internation- Pictured left to right, goaltender Hans Schonrock, defenceman Tyler Batt and coach Bob Batt are long-time members of the Grandravine Tornadoes, a hockey organization for developmentally challenged players. The Tornadoes recently sent four teams to Kitchener for the Special Hockey International tournament. | Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog al, held recently in Kitchener, featured 60 clubs from Canada, the United States and Great Britain, accommodating nearly 1,000 players in total. The Tornadoes themselves sent four teams to Kitchener featuring a total of 50 players and five coaches. The youngest player was four years old and the oldest was 62. I let (younger players) score to make them feel happier. That's what I like about it, giving younger people a chance to feel good about themselves. Hans Schonrock Grandravine Tornadoes goaltender "It's magnificent the way it's grown," Batt said. "It's beyond anybody's dream that they could have so many teams." In this tournament, it's not about how many points a player gets in a game or how many victories a team has. It's not about getting a different colour medal than someone else, because everyone walks away with the same medal in the end. It's about hockey players of all ages playing together and coming away from the event with a positive experience. "That's the philosophy of it all, to keep everyone in the game," Batt said. "We don't try to ever bury anybody where they lose their confidence. Nobody wins 12-2, we won't let that happen. The coaches meet before and make sure if a guy's good enough to score five goals, he's good enough to pass the puck to somebody who never gets a goal. "We share it with the other teams sometimes too, give them encouragement." It's a belief Grandravine Tornadoes goaltender Hans Schonrock wholeheartedly agrees with. "With the younger ones, I let them score to make them feel happier," said Schonrock, who has been with the team for 15 years. "That's what I like about it, giving younger people a chance to feel good about themselves." Schonrock, a 51-year-old Oakville native, says the teammates he's surrounded by makes it an easy choice to come back year after year. "They treat you like you're part of a family, a hockey family," he said. "When you're down, they pick you up. We joke around a lot and we go on the ice and feel relaxed. That makes a good team." Bob Batt is confident the sport will continue to grow and is hopeful there will be teams in Oakville and Quebec someday. The Tornadoes completed their campaign last Saturday but Bob and Tyler are already anxious to get their 23rd seasons with the club underway. Next year's Special Hockey International tournament will be held in Detroit, marking the 20th anniversary of the event. For Batt, now 71, and Tyler, it all begins with a Saturday morning drive from Oakville to the Grandravine Arena in North York, the same one they've taken every weekend from October to April for the last 22 years. "It's the people, the players, the smiles on their faces when they score," Batt said. "That's your reward. The players give you a thrill when they score or do something well. That's what brings you back."