Today sees the start of the 40th Special Olympics Anniversary Games in Stirling with representatives from Lincolnshire and the Lincoln City FC Sport and Education Trust DS Active team aiming for accolades.
There will be 17 teams competing at Stirling University in the games and Lincolnshire will be represented in football and badminton with representatives from the LCFC Sport and Education Trust DS Active team travelling with the team up to Scotland.
Many of the competitors in the Special Olympics Lincolnshire squad often can be seen training at Sincil Bank and they will form part of the ‘East Midlands’ regional team taking part in the games.
All the sports in the Anniversary Games are divisioned to cater for all ability levels, including exclusive lower ability competition in Swimming, Athletics and Multi Activity Training Programme (MATP), enabling very low ability and multi disability athletes to enjoy competing at a high-profile national games.
The “Be bold, be kind, be awesome!” campaign, which is a key element of the games, challenges young people’s perceptions and attitudes towards young people with intellectual disabilities, creating a more unified next generation. Promoting lasting relationships between disabled and non-disabled people through participation on and off the sports field.
This year, of the teams competing, 16 teams are from around the UK with a guest team travelling over from Denmark to take part in the games, last year the East Midlands football squad won a silver medal in their division (pictured above at Sincil Bank) and will no doubt be looking to go one better this time.
The opening ceremony of the Special Olympics GB 40th Anniversary Games, hosted by Special Olympics Scotland, takes place today at Forthbank Stadium, Stirling and the competition runs until Monday 13th August.
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