How the Special Olympics began
Special Olympics is an International Organisation which was
founded 50 years ago by Eunice Shriver, who wanted an
organisation for her sister who was mentally handicapped. It
started in her back garden as a group of children who had races
and games to compete against one another and rapidly expanded
throughout America as an organisation to offer sport and
competition to children and adults with an intellectual
disability and IQ under 75. It is now active in 172 countries
with 5 million athletes. The Shriver family are still very much
involved and Tim Shriver was present at the recent World Games.
The first group in Great Britain was founded in 1978 by a
gentleman by the name of Chris Maloney, who now lives in North
Devon.
How to get involved - The North Devon Special Olympics
Group
Founded in 2014, the North Devon group meet at the Tarka Tennis
Centre in Barnstaple on a Saturday between 1.15pm and 2.45pm and
at the present time, offer training and competition in table
tennis. tennis, badminton and boccia. They also support a
swimming group at West Buckland School, who would welcome new
members.
The group are actively looking to recruit more athletes, coaches
and volunteers who would be interested in developing sports
especially badminton and groups who could offer and support
other sports e.g. athletics, basketball etc. There is also
currently a cyclist who is in need of somebody who has time to
support and develop his skills in racing.
The group is very active and compete in as many competitions as
possible, often travelling quite long distances, and are usually
very successful. In the last year the team even flew up to
Stirling for a weekend competition, but over the years the group
has found that sport doesn’t only improve the individuals’
sports skills, but confidence, independence, social skills,
coordination and also, forming friendships.
To find out more about getting involved with the North Devon
Special Olympics Team, please contact Val Hanover by emailing
[email protected]
