A number of Special Olympics Suffolk athletes and badminton players have been selected to represent the Eastern Region in the 2018 Special Olympics Great Britain Anniversary Games which take place in Stirling from 9th to 14th August

The Games, marking the 50th Anniversary of the global Special Olympics movement and 40th Anniversary of being established in Britain, will feature teams from all regions of England, Scotland and Wales in addition to a number of European countries. Following on from last year’s National Summer Games, this will be the first taste of international competition for our team members and an exciting experience both within and outside the competition arena

This requires a lot of preparation not only for the athletes who are training hard but also for Special Olympics Suffolk and the athletes’ families and friends in raising the necessary funding to get them there

To help with this a Virgin Money Giving fundraising page has been set up on which donations may be made directly through the following link:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/charity-web/charity/displayCharityCampaignPage.action?campaignId=5957&charityId=1012904

Alternatively individuals, organisations or businesses wishing to contribute through other means or to have an informal conversation may make contact with Terry McEntee, Chair Special Olympics Suffolk at terrymcentee474@gmail.com or 07775557784

Any donation which you may be able to make will be greatly appreciated

Special Olympics badminton players from Suffolk were amongst the
medals once again at the West Midlands Regional Tournament, which
was held recently in Cannock.

Eleven players from our county made the trip across to the midlands
with eight of them managing to come away with top three placings (two
gold, three silver and three bronze), from the doubles events.
Special Olympics, which is sport for athletes with an intellectual
disability, is relatively new to our county with the Suffolk branch having
only been established as recently as 2014.
“This is the biggest badminton team that we have taken to a
tournament outside of Suffolk,” said Mike McCarthy from ActivLives
and Special Olympics Suffolk.
“All of our players continue to put in a lot of hard work every week to
be able to be competitive at this level, we are very proud of all of
them,” added Mike.
This tournament was one of several that are organised as part of the
Special Olympics calendar of events held across the country. The next
badminton tournament on the national calendar will be held here in
Ipswich on Saturday 12th May.
If you would like to find out more about that event or about playing
badminton with Special Olympics Suffolk, please contact Mike
McCarthy on 01473 345350 or email mike@activlives.org.uk

Last month we had our badminton athletes who attended the Special Olympics Sutton Coldfield ‘Random Doubles’ Badminton Tournament. The tournament was an excellent addition to the athletes training and a chance for them to play and compete with other players.

Out of the 11 players who attended the competition,  we came home with 2 Golds, 3 Silvers and 3 Bronze medals. As importantly, 3 of our players really stood out in helping their partners to deal with the event. All of the players were paired with partners from other clubs.

A huge well done to all the athletes!

This July we will be running the gymnastics training camp in preparation for the completion on Sunday 29th July. The training days will take place from Thursday 26th to Saturday 28th July 2018. As per previous years you can enter both the training camp and competition or just one or the other. The competition is open to gymnasts competing British Gymnastics Disability Code of Points level Open, A and B and Special Olympics Level B, 1 and 2. The training camp are long days, so we advise that gymnasts are prepared for this, however it is great fun for all involved!

For more information please use the contact form below.