Special Olympian Gary has his sights set on Abu Dhabi games
EARLIER this year, Castleisland Special Olympics athlete Gary O’Sullivan had dreamed of winning a medal for his team at the national championships.
The championships were held in Dublin over four days from June 14, and Gary competed as part of the Kerry Stars Special Olympics Club. His specialities were the 4kg Shot Putt and the 400m walk. Gary won gold for the Kerry team in both competitions.
His dreams soared after ‘ the nationals’, and he couldn’t wait for news of last week’s Irish team selection for the World Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi next March.
Mid week brought the news he had dreamed of. Gary had been selected to represent Ireland in his specialities at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus Conference Centre on Saturday, July 14, and Dan Lyons brought the all-important letter during the week.
“I’m delighted of course to be selected for the Irish team, and people are coming up to me and shaking hands and congratulating me. It’s great and I’m the only one to be selected from the Kerry team,” he said.
“I was hoping a couple of my Kerry teammates would be going as well – but I’m looking forward to getting there and doing my very best for Ireland,” said a delighted Gary.
When he’s not training for the next competition involving the ‘Kerry Stars’, Gary can be found keeping goal for the Castleisland AFC B team and, indeed, acting as a water carrier at games for the club’s A side and any other job the club asks of him.
Hosting the World Games next March is hugely important to the organisers in Abu Dhabi.
Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 is scheduled for March 8 to 22 and will be the largest sports and humanitarian event anywhere in the world.
It will see a participation of over 7,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches representing more than 170 Special Olympics teams from around the world.
Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019 will be the most unified games in history and promises to offer an inclusive experience for those with and without intellectual disabilities.
Incidentally, Gary O’Sullivan’s aunt, Stacey O’Sullivan was a volunteer when the World Special Games were held in Athens in 2011.
Two other Castleislanders accompanied her on the volunteers team in the Greek capital that year, Breda O’Donoghue and Rosaleen Higgins.
In the course of the games there they met members of the famous Kennedy political dynasty, Sam and Tim Shriver, whose parents were very involved in securing the games as a fixture on an international and permanent basis.
As Gary O’Sullivan will be obliged to raise funds for his trip, there will a ‘Get Behind Gary’ movement launched in Castleisland shortly and anyone with fundraising ideas will be welcome to get involved. We’ll keep you posted.
The Kerry Stars Special Olympics Club was formed in September 2002 by a group of families.
Its objective was, and still is, to provide these athletes with the opportunity to be productive and respected members of society through participation in a year-round sports and competition programme.
This. in turn, creates a more positive self-image, inclusion, enjoyment and new friendships for the athletes.
There is, at present, a team of 50 athletes in the Kerry Stars Club, and they come from the Killarney, East Kerry and Mid Kerry areas.