Special Olympics SVG coaches revitalized

Six coaches from different sporting disciplines met recently with Special Olympics St Vincent and the Grenadines (SOSVG) to initiate a way forward for the athletes of SOSVG.{{more}}

Janice McMaster, national director and Terrence Davis, coach and athlete representative on the Board of Directors of Special Olympics SVG, addressed the coaches and gave them a brief outline of what is expected from them as coaches and updated them on the various plans for 2013 and beyond.

In McMaster’s address, she reminded them that coaches teach the skills and spirit that define a true athlete, and are role models and character builders. She also said that Special Olympics coaches go even further; they help athletes find their own strengths and abilities. She promised that coaches will be kept busy with a lot of sporting activities, as there will be competition and demonstration games in the different sporting disciplines.

Davis pointed out that it is not about winning, but more so about giving the athletes an opportunity to display their abilities and skills. He recited the athlete’s motto: “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt”. He also said that a divisioning process is done, so as to put athletes in the right group in order for them to perform effectively.

Onike Span, tennis coach, was one of the new coaches on board and he has shown his commitment to starting a tennis program with the athletes, with practice sessions on Saturday afternoons. This programme will begin in Kingstown and then extend to Bequia and the rural areas.

Special Olympics St Vincent and the Grenadines has been reconstituted over the past two years, and the Board of Directors has engaged primarily in fund-raising, awareness and the reconnection of relationships, with a view to once again getting our Vincentian athletes to be able to compete at the local, regional and international levels. One of the goals is to send a delegate of athletes to the 2015 World Summer Games in Los Angeles.

SOSVG seeks to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, 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. There will be a Bocce Competition between business houses and the SOSVG athletes on Saturday, September 28 at the Solidarity Car Park at 1 p.m. to mark Eunice Kennedy Shriver (EKS) Day. This would then be followed by the National Games on November 8 and 9 at the Victoria Park.

The coaches ended the evening with a friendly and exciting game of bocce.