We had the pleasure and the privilege to attend the Special Olympics National Winter Games in Craigavon and Lurgan over the weekend.
207 athletes from all corners of Ireland took part in the three-day residential games with skiing at Craigavon Golf and Ski Centre, and Floorball, described by Sports Director Karen Coventry as Ice Hockey without the Ice, at South Lake Leisure Centre.
The latter venue was also the setting for a Healthy Athlete Screening Programme where athletes could check in with audiology, podiatry, mental wellbeing and other medical experts, all volunteers and dran in large part from students from Queens Unversity and the University of Ulster,
There was also a Young Athletes Festival initiative where children with an intellectual disability could be introduced to some of the games and sports across the Special Olympics family.
There was a great input from the political community North and South. The First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly officially opened the Games on Friday night and Sports Minister Thomas Byrne from Dublin and Education Minister Paul Givan from Stormont were present for the games on Saturday and at a Patron’s lunch hosted in Moira by Denis O’Brien.
There are few areas of sport that give greater joy than Special Olympics and spending time with the athletes, their coaches and families would soften the hardest of hearts and put a bounce in the flattest of steps.
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