Special Olympics Earns Its Spurs
National Grid and Special Olympics Great Britain – presenting sponsors at this week’s Beyond Sport Summit – have confirmed a new partnership with Tottenham Hotspur.
Special Olympics GB (SOGB) provides year-round sports training and competition for children and adults with learning disabilities across the country. The programme aims to transforms the lives of people with intellectual disabilities and their families through the power of sport.
Special Olympics GB CEO Karen Wallin said: ‘Unified Sports bring people with and without intellectual disabilities together into the same teams and competition.’
‘This helps to promote and define inclusion and integration at its best. It also provides a base for Special Olympics athletes (with intellectual disabilities) to develop their individual personal skills and enhances empowerment.’
Grant Cornwell, CEO of Tottenham Hotspur Foundation, added: ‘The Tottenham Hotspur Foundation was thrilled to host this event. The Foundation run the very successful and first ever Unified Football programme on behalf of Special Olympics GB, which is sponsored by National Grid.’
‘National Grid has been a proud Premier Partner to Special Olympics GB for five years and our relationships with all parties at the Foundation goes from strength to strength.’
The year-round sports coaching and events provided by Special Olympics in Great Britain is clinically proven to positively change the quality of lives for the near 1.2 million people in Great Britain (2% of the population) with intellectual disabilities.
Special Olympics GB has the ability to improve the lives and mental wellness of the thousands of people who take part in, and many more that witness, the events on a weekly basis.
Research from Canterbury Christchurch University showed that those who did participate in Special Olympics had a higher self-esteem than those who did not take part. Higher self-esteem leads to more feelings of self-worth and more self-care. Findings also concluded that those involved in Special Olympics had wider social networks and lower stress levels.
