Special Olympics – Over 40 Years of Sport for Development Experience

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Special Olympics Mission

The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with Intellectual disability, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

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Special Olympics Vision

•Special Olympics is an unprecedented global movement which, through quality sports training and competition, improves the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and, in turn, the lives of everyone they touch.

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Special Olympics Philosophy

Special Olympics is founded on the belief that people with intellectual disabilities can, with proper instruction and encouragement, learn, enjoy and benefit from participation in individual and team sports.

Special Olympics…….

• Was started by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1962 in her backyard

• Has over 3.4 million athletes playing in over 30 Olympic-type sports.

• Runs over 44,000 events a year in over 170 countries in thousands and thousands of local places and in Olympic stadiums.

• Is for persons with Intellectual Disability (ID) and anybody who wants to play with them

• Has people with ID as Board Members, Advocates, Coaches and Managers

• Operates the most inclusive sports development and competition model in the world

• Is a sports organisation that is also the worlds biggest organisation of people with an ID

• Runs the world’s biggest public health program for people with an ID

• Has fantastic partners like FIFA, national and state governments and global corporate partners like Airtel, Tata, Procter & Gamble, Coca Cola and Mattel

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Sport is an acronym for …

• Fun• Friendship• Health• Winning (and losing)• Character development• Community development • Youth development

Research has shown that most people play for fun, friendship and health. The only difference between Special Olympics athletes and other athletes is that Special Olympics athletes want to win more!!

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AN OVERVIEW OF SPECIAL OLYMPICS BHARAT

AQUATICSATHLETICS BADMINTONBASKETBALLBOCCECRICKET CYCLINGHANDBALLPOWERLIFTING ROLLER SKATING SOCCERTABLE TENNIS VOLLEYBALLFLOOR HOCKEYALPINE SKIINGSNOW SHOEINGSPEED SKATINGSNOWBOARDINGKHO-KHOFIGURE SKATINGKHABADI

SPORTS OFFERED

AssamArunachal PradeshAndhra PradeshBiharChandigarhChattisgarhDelhiGoaGujaratHaryanaHimachal PradeshJharkhandJammu & KashmirKarnatakaKeralaMadhyaMaharashtraManipurMizoramMeghalayaNagalandOrissaPunjabPondicherryRajasthanSikkimTripuraTamil NaduUttaranchalUttar PradeshWest Bengal

TARGET 2010 : 750,000 Athletes

31 STATE PROGRAM

Learning’s from India

• Special Olympics Bharat (India):– Is 655,000 athletes strong, runs 21 sports and conducts 10,855

events a year.

– Is growing at least 100,000 athletes a year and will reach 1 million athletes by 2012.

– Is the largest sports federation in India in terms of registered athletes.

– Operates more unified sport events than anywhere else in the Special Olympics world.

– Got 6 times the pledges from youth (compared to the USA) to not use the word “retard” or the local equivalent in less than half the time (compared to the USA) in what Special Olympics Bharat called a “pilot project”

– Has access to over 1 million government aided schools

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Change………………

• Global Family Support Programming• SO Get Into It!• Unified Sports• Healthy Athletes • Law Enforcement Torch Run• Young Athletes• Athlete Leadership Program (ALPs)

Ragini Rao, Athlete SO Bharat

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Benefits of Special Olympics

• Motor Skill Development

• Cognitive Skill Development

• Social Emotional Skill Development

• Adaptive Skill Development

• Communication Skill Development• Increase self esteem, confidence• Exhibit courage and enthusiasm

• Friendships

• Hold jobs

• Transform communities by inspiring people

• Enhance ability to live normal productive lives.

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Gandhiji said

“ First they will ignore you. Then they will laugh at you. Then they will fight you. Then you will win.”

In India we are winning athlete by athlete, attitude by attitude.