PROJECT HIGHLIGHT 32 SPECIAL OLYMPICS UNIFIED SPORTS PROGRAMME, CHINA By creating opportunities <strong>for</strong> Special Olympic athletes to train, compete and interact together with members of their community, SOEA achieved its aims of fostering respect and inclusion <strong>for</strong> people with disabilities. The Special Olympics Unified <strong>Sport</strong>s Programme (SOEA) strives, as its main objective, to provide challenges <strong>for</strong> Special Olympics athletes, and to provide unique opportunities <strong>for</strong> them and people without intellectual disabilities (ID) to jointly participate in sports training and competitions, thus promoting equality and inclusion. The project funded five key activities in 2007, including competitions, clinics and workshops. The sports offered are bowling, basketball, softball, judo and kayaking – the last two being newly introduced sports. Using <strong>Laureus</strong> <strong>Sport</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong> grants <strong>for</strong> 2007, SOEA also organised three winter-sports training camps in January 2008 on mainland China (skiing), Korea (snowboarding) and Taiwan (snow-shoeing), in preparation <strong>for</strong> the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games. By training and competing together, Special Olympic athletes gain self- confidence, while their partners and the community members in general come to a better understanding of people with ID. This, in turn, helps create a society with more respect, acceptance and inclusion. With a view to promoting inclusiveness, smaller training groups and competitions are organised to stimulate the interest of participants. These trained participants then give demonstrations at bigger functions or festival events so that guests and other athletes are introduced to the concept of Unified <strong>Sport</strong>s. Since being introduced to China in 2002, participants of SOEA have grown to 29 439 athletes, including their partners. However, still only a small portion of the general public know about Special Olympics, and few people understand the problems and potentials of people with ID, and how they can be helped, so our work is far from over. The <strong>Laureus</strong> <strong>Sport</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong> has provided much needed assistance to SOEA to spearhead the project, particularly in China. It has now attracted the attention of the Chinese government, which has begun to lend financial support to Unified <strong>Sport</strong>s activities. The <strong>Laureus</strong> <strong>Sport</strong> <strong>for</strong> <strong>Good</strong> <strong>Foundation</strong> has certainly created a great legacy in China and other SOEA programmes. L A U R E U S S P O R T F O R G O O D F O U N D A T I O N A N N U A L R E V I E W
Special Olympics athletes and partners enjoyed a two day training camp in Beijing. Opposite: Athletes and their partners celebrate the end of a softball game. Right: A game of basketball, between participants with and without intellectual disabilities, helps create inclusion. L A U R E U S S P O R T F O R G O O D F O U N D A T I O N A N N U A L R E V I E W 33
Change language