Special Olympics delivers
message of hope, victory

The Illinois Special Olympics is seeking new ways to
involve park districts, recreation departments and
special recreation associations.

By Dennis Alldridge

Special Olympics — Uniting the World

Nowhere was this theme more evident than at last summer's International Summer Special Olympics Games in South Bend, IN. Athletes from more than 70 nations and from every U.S. state competed in the spirit of friendship for 10 days in the hot Indiana sun. From the humble beginnings in Chicago at Soldier Field in July, 1968, until its 20th anniversary this year, Special Olympics has reached many milestones:

• Never before has Sports Illustrated carried more than a few lines on Special Olympics. This past year, this story ran a magnificent six pages.

• Time Magazine had never written a word about Special Olympics. In 1987, it devoted a full page to the Games.

• The Chicago newspapers have never considered Special Olympics a significant sports event. This past summer in daily page one stories and in some of the most perceptive columns ever, the Chicago Tribune and the Sun-Times gave Special Olympics true Olympic coverage.

• The marvelous ABC prime-time special reached 21 million people; the 90-minute Wide World of Sports reached an audience of 8.5 million.

• If you add in all the local newspaper and television coverage in the U.S. and overseas, the 1987 International Games reached a cumulative audience of well over 150 million people.

In these 20 years Special Olympics has grown to become the world's largest amateur sports program. Today, more than one million special children and adults take part in year-round training and athletic competition.

Public awareness

Why did this happen? There are at least four reasons:

• These athletes were better trained, better coached and more enthusiastic than ever before.

• This training permitted the athletes to compete in a much wider range of Olympic-caliber events.

• These International Games were truly international. Seventy nations took part, including 25 countries that participated for the first time. The First Ladies or Heads of State from 10 countries came to South Bend.

• Every performance, from the most severely challenged to the most skilled, was a shining example of what sports are truly all about: skills, courage, sharing and joy.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 17 January/February 1988

Planning for this year

As great as they were, the 1987 International Games are now history. They were a testament to the hard work and dedication of thousands of individuals who have kept alive the spirit of Special Olympics by making it more vital, more real, and more important each passing year.

Using this tremendous experience from last summer as a springboard, Special Olympics is lavishing a four-year project to reach out to the world's mentally retarded people and to bring them into the Games. In the past we have not reached out to involve more of the mentally retarded in Special Olympics. In fact, we have fewer Special Olympians now than in the past. In this respect, parks and recreation departments share a common mission with Special Olympics; that is, to provide sports and recreational opportunities for all citizens, including people with mental retardation.

Cooperative efforts

In Illinois, this is clearly evident by the number of park and recreation departments and special recreation associations that are in leadership roles with Illinois Special Olympics. Out of the 22 geographic areas that make up the Illinois Special Olympics, seven programs are headquartered in a parks and recreation department or in a special recreation associa-

Illinois Parks and Recreation 18 January/February 1988

tion. In addition, many local Special Olympics programs are sponsored by parks and recreation departments or by special recreation associations.

However, many adults with mental retardation do not have the opportunity to be in Special Olympics because they do not have a place to learn the sport, practice and enroll in Special Olympics', city, or county teams.

An important impact

When Special Olympics' events are conducted, on the sidelines are a unique group of people: the parents, siblings, aunts, uncles and grandparents of athletes with mental retardation. When asked their thoughts about the value of Special Olympics, they invariably respond: "Thanks so much for Special Olympics ... we don't know how we would have raised this child without it" or "It is what motivates Joan to dress herself, to learn good manners, and to take care of herself."

The hope is that they, too, can become functional and accepted as legitimate members of the community. The reality is that many of them can and do.

Throughout this four-year "outreach" campaign, the overall goal is "to make available to every person with mental retardation the opportunity to share in the skills, courage, sharing, and confidence building and joy of Special Olympics sports, and to train for competition at least an additional one million people."

Illinois Special Olympics, the parks and recreation departments, and special recreation associations can:

• enhance volunteer recruitment and training.

• increase special population programming.

• add excitement to public relations.

• expand fund-raising opportunities.

Parks and recreation departments and special recreation associations already have the capacity to help the Special Olympics' program by:

• instituting public awareness

programs.

• training coaches and athletes.

• sponsoring Special Olympics' teams.

• hosting community-based Special Olympics' games.

• allowing use of facilities and equipment.

• coordinating transportation, and

• assisting in the coordination of local programs.

Will you help?

During the next few months, Illinois Special Olympics will be seeking new ways to involve parks and recreation departments and special recreation associations. We'll be approaching you individually and as groups. We're committed to fulfill the message Mrs. Eunice Kennedy Shriver gave to the Special Olympians during her speech at the Opening Ceremonies of the 1987 Games:

The world is watching you, and by your presence you send a message to every village, every city, every nation. A message of hope. A message of victory.

The right to play on any playing field? You have earned it.

The right to study in any school? You have earned it.

The right to hold a job? You have earned it.

The right to be anyone's neighbor? You have earned it.

The days of separation and segregation are over.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Dennis Alldridge is director of the Illinois Special Olympics.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 19 January/February 1988