We are very honoured to welcome our Special Olympics Suffolk Patron – Bill Tancred

Bill Tancred is a leading sports administrator, academic and former international athlete and coach. He competed at the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics in the discus and won bronze and silver medals in successive Commonwealth Games from 1970 to 1974.

He was the British National discus champion on ten occasions and broke the British record 19 times; the las stood for 25 years with his personal best being 64.94m in 1974.

Bill was a former regular soldier with the 1st East Anglian regiment and the Army Physical Training Corps. After military service in Aden and at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he attended Loughborough and West Virginia Universities, the latter on a N.A.T.O. Fellowship. As an academic he has taught in schools, polytechnics and Universities and held the position of Professor of Sport and Exercise science.

A former Chairman of Suffolk Sport, he is now Patron of Inspire Suffolk and Special Olympics Suffolk

He was awarded an MBE for services to athletics in 1992`

WELCOME BILL

SOS would like to say a huge welcome to  Two new Special Olympics Team members. The Vice Chair: Tina Laker and Treasurer: David Birkby. Two great additions to the Special Olympics team and a great chance for us to make even more positive changes within disability sport across Suffolk. More to come from both Tina and David.

On Monday the 6th February our Special Olympics Suffolk badminton players attended the Suffolk Saxons last home match of the season against the University of Nottingham – held in Ipswich – in the AJ Bell National Badminton League.

The athletes had a great evening presenting the #SOGB pennant to Andy Ellis, who is the captain of the Suffolk Saxons. This was a huge moment for our athletes and something we are all really proud of.

A huge thanks to Mike McCarthy, who is our lead badminton coach for making this happen.

The next big date for our local players (and volunteers), is Saturday 22nd April when we will be hosting the inaugural Eastern Region Doubles Badminton Tournament at Suffolk One. We hope to attract players from around the country for this event, it will serve as a qualifier for the SOGB National Summer Games being held in Sheffield in August.

Last week our badminton athletes competed in an Inclusive (Doubles) Badminton Tournament in Ipswich. A very proud moment for all of our athletes with medal wins and a great performance all round. The group who train in Ipswich on a Wednesday afternoon have been training hard which clearly showed in their great performance in the competition.

The weekly session is a partnership between ActivLives and Special Olympics Suffolk.

If anyone would like further information please contact Mike on 01473 345350 or mike@activlives.org.uk

NEWS RELEASE

Monday 7th November 2016

Persimmon Community Champions support Special Olympics Suffolk athletes

Special Olympics Suffolk athletes taking part in the 2017 Special Olympics Great Britain National Summer Games in Sheffield (August 7^th to 12^th) have received a massive boost through a £1,000 award from Persimmon Community Champions. This will be the first time that athletes from Suffolk will have the opportunity to compete at this national level.

Terry McEntee, Chair of Special Olympics Suffolk says ‘This generous support from Persimmon Community Champions will help greatly towards enabling 24 of our athletes to have the experience of a lifetime in competing at the highest level against athletes from across Great Britain’

Andrew Fuller, managing director for Persimmon Homes Anglia, said ‘’As a company we are committed to supporting the small charities and organisations that operate near to our new homes development. This month we are proud to be supporting such an excellent sports club which is working hard to improve the lives of young people in the community, and for that they deserve our thanks and backing’’

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Persimmon Community Champions

This scheme invites local groups and charities to bid for cash from a £750,000 national fund, with two donations of up to £1,000 being made locally each month. Community groups, charities and good causes from across the county have benefited thanks to these donations from Persimmon Homes

In photo from left Lucy Woodhall, Persimmon Homes; Oliver C, athlete; Mitzi Read, coach and Terry McEntee, Chair Special Olympics Suffolk

Suffolk Special Olympians fly the flag in Bournemouth A group of Suffolk badminton players recently took part in the Southern Regional Special Olympics Badminton Tournament held in Bournemouth.

“The event was the first official badminton competition that Suffolk Special Olympians have ever participated in”, explained Mike McCarthy, one of the Special Olympic coaches.

“It was a brilliant experience for our players. They all performed well above their rankings but what was most impressive was how they rose to the challenges presented by the competitive situation, which was new to all of them”.

The Suffolk team of Ed Boggis, Kathy Brill and Cameron Sherman, who have all been training regularly in Ipswich with ActivLives and Special Olympics Suffolk, competed against players from across the south of England at the Bournemouth event.

“This was our first tournament, we will definitely be looking for more opportunities to compete at future Special Olympics events and hopefully for some players to qualify for the National Games in 2017.

This experience has given the team a real taste for competition!” said Mike. If you would like to find out more about how you can get involved with badminton with Special Olympics Suffolk or ActivLives, please contact Mike McCarthy on 01473 345350 or email mike@activlives.org.uk

It is a busy time for Special Olympics Suffolk at the moment as the group prepares to host Athletics and Gymnastics competitions later this year. The Athletics meeting will be held in Ipswich on 3^rd September and the Gymnastics Competition in Lowestoft on the 30^th October.

The Steering Group recently held a very useful workshop led by Jason Cornwell from Special Olympics GB. The workshop assisted the group in putting together a Club Development Plan which in turn will support the further development of Special Olympics opportunities in Suffolk.

Here’s a picture of our Steering Group taken at our May meeting.

We’re looking for a new voluntary treasurer. The time required will be minimal and a full handover will be given.

Please see the Job Advert and contact us if you are interested.

Special Olympics Suffolk – Treasurer Advert

Congratulations to a Suffolk Special Olympian who won Gold in a recent skiing competition in the French Alps. View the full ITV News Article here: http://tinyurl.com/h6jxeyk

National Opportunity 

SOGB are recruiting for Competition Managers who will have overall responsibility for preparing, coordinating and running all aspects of the competition in their sport for the 2017 National Summer Games.

The deadline for applications is 12pm, Tuesday 29th March.

This is the Job Description, and this is the Application Form.