Differently abled prepare
for Special Olympics
PHILIPSBURG--Some sixty Sister Basilia Centre clients and Prins Willem Alexander School students took part in a number of sporting activities at Raoul Illidge Sports Complex last Saturday in preparation for the Special Olympics Competition, which will be held in China in 2007. Last year St. Maarten carted off some nine gold and other medals during the Special Olympics.
Participants competed in several sporting activities such as track and field, fast walk, soccer, bocce, softball and swimming during Saturday’s event.
Gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded to winners and runners-up in the different categories. The athletes were assisted by some 25 volunteers and coaches.
“So far the St. Maarten board of the Special Olympics has been working very hard to get on track and to stay on track for the athletes,” National Director Eileen Healy said. “They realise there is still a long way to go in order to get the athletes to the Olympic level.”
Special Olympics is an international programme of year-round sports training and athletic competition for persons with intellectual disabilities. It began in 1968 when Eunice Kennedy Shriver organised the First International Summer Games at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
The concept was born in the early 1960s when Shriver started a day camp for people with intellectual disabilities. She saw that individuals with intellectual disabilities were far more capable in sports and physical activities than experts thought.
Special Olympics St. Maarten was founded in September 2004. The board members are First Lady Angela Richards-Huggins, Treasurer Lisandra Havertong, Secretary Malka Schepens, member of the board and legal adviser Meredith Boekhoudt, member of the board and Department Manager of Sister Basilia Center Loyola Seymonson, member of the board and representative of the athletes Willemijn Verloop, member of the board and representative of the parents of the athletes Joycelin Patrick and Head Coaches Ramesh Biere and Julia Boasman.
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