Special Olympics Isle Of Man, a voluntary organisation who are celebrating 30 years of supporting athletes with an intellectual disability, are in the mid stages of preparing their team for a visit to The Special Olympics World Games, which are to be held from 25th July to 2nd August in Los Angeles.
The Special Olympics Isle of Man team will consist of 25 athletes and 11 officials.
All the athletes and coaches are hard at work preparing for this fantastic world event.
Athletes from Special Olympics Isle of Man will be competing in, Athletics, Aquatics, Bocce, Badminton, Cycling, Football, 10 Pin Bowling and Gymnastics.
Los Angeles will welcome a total 7,000 athletes and 3,000 coaches representing 177 countries, along with 30,000 volunteers and an anticipated 500,000 spectators, the 2015 LA Games will be the largest sports and humanitarian event anywhere in the world this year.
National Director of Special Olympics Isle of Man, Beryl Wooldridge, spoke about the team’s preparations:
“Our athletes are starting to get very excited about travelling to Los Angeles to represent their country. They are training really hard and are looking forward to the experience and hopefully collecting some medals, personal bests and making new friends.
The World Games are a wonderful opportunity to showcase the Special Olympics movement and to celebrate the abilities and accomplishments of people with intellectual disabilities”.
As this is the biggest sporting event taking place in the world this year, with the participation of Special Olympic Isle of Man athletes, it once again places the Isle of Man firmly on the map through sport.
At the recent pre games conference in Los Angeles attended by National Directors, President Obama addressed the delegates by video link, showing and confirming his support for this amazing event.
For our team at the moment one of our biggest challenges is the fund-raising. It is going to cost in the region of ?1500 per athlete to get to LA. We have been proactive in raising this amount through bag packs, car washes, and a number of very generous donations. However, we have some way to go before we meet all our costs.
We would like to hear from any sponsors out there, no matter how big or small, who can offer any financial assistance. It would greatly appreciated and put to a worthy cause.
Please get in touch via email specialolympicsiom@manx.net or by telephone 853850.
The Games will officially begin when the cauldron is lit on 25th July at the LA Memorial Coliseum, location of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics.
The ‘Flame of Hope’ which will signify the start of the games will have been carried across the World by Police Officers on the torch run before arriving in Los Angeles.
For more information on the 2015 Special Olympics LA Games visit - www.la2015.org.
