Day out
Disabled athletes had outdoor fun while playing in a couple of mini-games, reports Abeer Anwar
Special Olympics Egypt (SOE) organised a one-day competition in miniature soccer and basketball. Thirteen mental care associations participated in the event with a total of 121 athletes. Seventy-five volunteers and 150 families also attended to help make the day one to remember.
"We decided this year to have two sports instead of just one like last year to give an equal chance to both girls and boys to participate," Ashraf El-Oeguil, SOE sports manager, said. "We also formed two categories in each competition to give all the handicapped the chance to join in."
Weather conditions could not have been better for this mini-competition. Teams were classified into groups A and B in soccer and basketball; girls in basketball, boys in soccer. Enthusiastic fans -- mostly family members -- cheered them on. The Healthy Athletes Programme, headed by Dr Ashraf El-Ashkar, was applied to all participants allowing for health check ups.
"We chose the two most popular sports to attract the most number of players," Mohamed El-Alfi, SOE national director, said. He added that the aim of the competition was to evaluate the level of comprehension of and adherence to SOE rules and standards.
"As part of MENA's yearly plan, each of the 20 programmes of the region must organise a one-day mini-competition to give us the chance to evaluate the performance of each programme and identify need areas to attain our ultimate goal of registering 110,000 athletes in the movement by the end of 2005," said Mohamed El-Shafei, sports consultant for the Middle East and North Africa region. "It also helps us determine to what extent our training seminars have been beneficial."
Each sport included seven teams. In basketball, Misr Al-Akadima Mental Education Centre finished first, followed by the Social Defence Association, Al-Salam Mental Education and Helwan's Mental Information Centre. In Group B, Mazalat Mental Education collected the gold, the Ferdous Mental Education Organisation the silver and Zeitoun Mental Model Centre the bronze.
In football, Misr Language Schools took the gold medal, Helwan's Mental Education Centre the silver, Al-Haram Mental Education Association the bronze and Zeitoun Mental Education Association came in fourth. In Group B, Rod Al-Farag Centre came in first place, Nasr City Mental Education Centre second and the Society Development Centre third.
The event was attended by Ismail Othman and Magda Moussa, SOE chairman and president. "I'm very happy to see the athletes enjoying themselves and to share with them their happiness," Moussa said. "All of us have to work hard to provide the mentally handicapped with the care and love they need. We also have a duty towards them. We have to change the ideas of people everywhere about mental disabilities and we have to help such children to be part of our society and our communities because they really deserve it."
"We are extremely happy when we play with other teams and beat them," Refai Fares, a member of the Misr Language Schools soccer team, said, summing up the sentiments of most participants. "We were able to win all our matches and collect the gold medal. It was a fantastic day."
