SASA-II athletes prepare for Global Games at Pretoria training camp

South Africa’s premier intellectually disabled swimming, athletics, basketball, futsal and table tennis athletes took one step closer to the Global Games for the Intellectually Impaired in the Czech Republic next month when they completed their last collective training camp in Pretoria in mid-June. The Global Games are to be held in Liberec between 5-14 July.

The 57 athletes and 33 officials, management personnel and coaches congregated in a frosty Laudium to sort out the finer details of their respective assaults on the 2^nd edition of the Global Games. Although athletes had already been hard at work back in their home provinces, the training camp gave them an opportunity to get to know each other. Those involved in team sports also had the chance to get used to the team dynamic, as well as to develop all important strategies and build up relationships within the team.

Lizzie Vogel, the SASA-II (South African Sports Association for the Intellectually Disabled) President, thought that “the training camp went exceptionally well”. “We achieved what we set out to do”, she said, “which was to familiarize the entire team with each other, as well as giving the different codes enough time to ready themselves for the upcoming Games”. Vogel went on to say that “the team spirit was amazing, and the level of commitment of the athletes to the training program was also incredible”.

Albert Warnick, SASA-II’s National Public Relations Officer, strongly believes that sport plays a crucial role in the lives of intellectually disabled individuals. “Playing sport affords these children so many more opportunities than just getting involved in the sport itself” he said. “Obviously the physical fitness and motor skills involved in playing sports is beneficial to anyone”, said Warnick, “but the social skills involved cannot be underestimated”. Warnick identified discipline, communication and logical reasoning as the areas in which the children develop the most. “The team sports encourage the development of interpersonal skills, whilst the individual sports require the children to work on their self-discipline, and at all times, no matter what sports code, communication is playing an important role”. Warnick also said that “playing sport is about making the right decisions in split seconds, and this also sharpens the minds of those involved”.

The fact that the sportspersons do a lot of travelling is also a crucial factor in their development into functional members of everyday society. “When the children travel, both nationally and internationally, they see new places and interact with new people and different cultures, and this has obvious benefits in terms of developing and nurturing their young minds” commented Warnick. He also said that “when the children move out of their comfort zone, it stimulates their mental growth, and that is why playing sport and travelling with these children is so rewarding”.

The first Global Games was hosted by Sweden in 2004, after the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney when INAS-FID (International Federation for people with Intellectual Disability) was suspended. The re-inclusion of intellectually disabled athletes in the 2012 Paralympics is a possibility.

The South Africa Sport Association for the Intellectually Impaired (SASA-II) was established in 1990, and since then its athletes have represented their country at numerous World Championships, Paralympics and other international events. So far, 1460 athletes and officials from 38 countries from all corners of the world have confirmed their intention to participate at the 2009 Global Games.