North Staffordshire Special Olympics

July 2009 sees the next Special Olympic National Games taking place in Leicester, being based around the Leicester University site at Oadby, and there will be some 2500 athletes competing. 

North Staffordshire Special Olympics, are part of the West Midlands Group, which forms one of the largest Special Olympic Groups in Great Britain, and are hoping to take some 78 athletes to the Games, who will compete in the sports of Athletics; Badminton; Basketball; Kayaking; Soccer and Swimming, and, together with their Coaches and Escorts, who are, incidentally, all volunteers, will number some 100, which will form one of the largest contingent of any group from one single area.

The Games happen every 4 years, last for a week in total, and are the highlight of the Great Britain Special Olympic movement, only being surpassed by the Special Olympic World Games, which were last held in 2007 in Shanghai, in which North Staffordshire provided 14 representatives within the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Team.

Special Olympics is a world wide organisation, originally beginning in the USA, as the brainchild of Eunice Shriver Kennedy, who was a member of the very famous Kennedy Clan, that not only produced a President, numerous Senators, but also an Ambassador or two.

Aimed at children and young people who suffer with learning difficulties, the Special Olympics Organisation can now be found in most countries throughout the World, providing not only sporting activities, but also helping in the development of social and interactive skills, creating a grounding for the integration of each individual sportsman, or sportswoman, into society. 

The Special Olympic Oath, “Let me win, but if I do not win, let me be brave in the attempt”, sums up the ethos and attitude of the Organisation. It provides the opportunity for each athlete to achieve success, at whatever level that may be, and then helps each one to try and achieve even more.

In Special Olympics you will find No Superstars – ability is the thing that counts, how ever great or small that might be; No Drugs – only those prescribed to help with problems an athlete may have; No paid Athletes or Coaches – everyone gives of their time on a purely voluntary basis; No Cheats – each and every athlete, and coach, respects and encourages everyone else, no matter what their individual ability. What you will find is a very large group of people, who of course want to win, but who will also be enjoying themselves, which, surely, is what it is all about.

In Special Olympics, as in almost every other Sport, the easiest thing to do is to spend money, whilst the hardest thing to do is to raise it. When I tell you that the cost of sending the North Staffordshire contingent to the 2009 National Games will be in the region of some £40,000.00, not a lot, if you say it quickly!!!!

This will be met by athlete contributions, and by fundraising. The North Staffordshire Special Olympic Committee are at present planning a series of events to raise money, which will be widely advertised through out the area, and I would ask the people of North Staffordshire to help and support in anyway that they can. If anyone would like to make a donation, then please send it to the Group Treasurer, Mr David O’Connor, at 57 Festival Close, Festival Heights, Stoke-on-Trent, ST6 3LG, all donations, now matter how large, or how small, will be gratefully received. In this way they will be helping, as we do, people who are less fortunate than themselves, to try and achieve their true potential. Any cheques, or Postal Orders, should be made payable to North Staffordshire Special Olympics.