Special Olympics team readying for games
NZ National Summer Games in Hamilton from December 8-13
Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the Special Olympics movement has grown from a few hundred athletes to more than 3.7 million athletes in over 170 countries in all regions of the world, providing yearround sports training, athletic competition, and other related programs.
Special Olympics Hawke’s Bay is affiliated to Special Olympics New Zealand, and operates under Special Olympics International.
Special Olympics hold their World Summer Games every four years and more athletes attend than at the Commonwealth Games.
Special Olympics New Zealand National Summer Games this year are in Hamilton from December 8-13.
The attendance will be in the vicinity of 1750 athletes from 44 clubs around the country, so it will be a significant event.
The Hawke’s Bay squad this year will be about 41 athletes and 17 coach/ supervisors.
These athletes have competed in one day and two-day events in their chosen sport to enable them to qualify to go to the Special Olympics National Summer Games.
Currently Special Olympics Hawke’s Bay is running training programmes in swimming, golf, bocce, tenpin and football, with 110 registered athletes.
Special Olympics Hawke’s Bay provides year-round training and competition in a variety of sports for athletes of all ages, with an intellectual disability, creating continuing opportunities with development of physical fitness and social acceptance.
This enables the athletes to experience the joy of achievement and involvement, to be actively included in the community and to build social and sporting interaction skills and to make friends.
Special Olympics is not an elite sports club but caters for all levels of ability and all participants are acknowledged in their competitions.
The National Games are the culmination of four years of training by the selected athletes and gives them the experience of competing nationally and perhaps attaining a personal best or a medal in their events. For a lot of the team this will be the highest level they can compete at because they are unable to travel overseas, or they may not be selected in a New Zealand team.
The golf squad currently has eight athletes who have attended one and two-day events to qualify.
Over the last six months they have attended events in Hastings, Wellington, and Taupo.
The five golfers able to go to nationals are now busy with their weekly training and raising funds to help pay the registration cost of $1200-$1300 per head.
One of these golfers is playing 18 holes, two are playing nine holes and one golfer is playing alternate shots for nine holes. They play three days in a row so will be busy during the competition. The venue for the golf is Ngaruawahia, so the team will be travelling there each day from Hamilton.
The club collects aluminium cans on an ongoing basis to help with expenses to run or attend events, otherwise all the other costs are covered by the athletes and some funding applied for by the club.