A brotherly bond around softball

On the Westman Comets in Brandon, Matthew is both a pitcher and first baseman, who goes up to bat in the middle of his team’s lineup. During winter, Matthew stays active by playing as a forward on the Wheat City Wings floor hockey team. He also enjoys cutting lawns around town, and spending time with family and friends, especially by grabbing coffee with them.

Charles works for Tweedia, a content creation company focused on helping clients within the agriculture, building, and oil/gas sectors. He is also elected to the Brandon Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, which is dedicated to fostering a positive business community. Charles proudly mentioned that he’s encouraged several of his friends on the Board to donate towards Special Olympics, and he also gives back personally by coaching Matthew’s softball team in the summer and helping coach curling in the winter.

“Special Olympics has brought us closer as brothers,” said Charles, who is a member on the Special Olympics Westman board. “And to see Matt succeed on the diamond, taking on more of a leadership role as he’s matured, and have fun is something that is really rewarding.”

A big reason Charles finds himself drawn to sport is the life lessons he believes it can teach, such as the importance of teamwork, becoming a reliable person, and consistent hard work towards a specific goal. As a coach, not only does Charles know he is making a positive impact on other people, but he personally feels inspired by the athletes on his  team.

While Charles greatly enjoys being on the team, he said he’s the “least effective” coach for Matt, due to how close they are. For that reason he’s grateful to his fellow coaches — Warren Day for softball and Lex Langston for floor hockey —for all the mentorship they give to his brother.

For his part, Matt said his softball experience is made better by having Charles by his side.

“I like having my bro as my coach,” Matt said, “sometimes we’ll throw the ball around not at practice too and get ready for the season. It’s a lot of fun and when we play exhibition games we’ll get big crowds out to cheer us on.”

Matthew is starting to take on a mentoring role on the team, which is ramping up towards an exciting trip to Winnipeg for the Special Olympics Manitoba Summer Games 2025. 

“As I’ve gotten older on the team,” Matthew added, “I’m now one of the old guys, and it’s been about helping teach the younger players how to play.”

Last summer, Charles wrote an article about a major three-sport event hosted in Brandon. A former city editor with the Brandon Sun, Charles still submits Special Olympics-based content to the newspaper. Charles said The Sun has been a “great supporter” of Special Olympics programs, with the exposure they gain from media coverage helping to raise funds for specific events or tournaments.

“That was a great day in Brandon and we have so many great media partners who help showcase our athletes,” Charles said, thinking back about the event he covered. “That day we had golfers, soccer players and softball players from Manitoba and Saskatchewan competing and it’s always so much fun when we get a group of athletes together for an experience like that.”

Matthew himself similarly holds some found memories of competing in Special Olympics softball. Particularly, the time he won bronze at the Special Olympics Canada Summer Games 2018 in Antigonish, as his friends and family cheered for the team.