Jon-Paul St. Germain Visits India

www.specialolympicsbharat.org

ESPN Unified Sports Program

July 9-July 14, 2014

Jon-Paul St. Germain Visits India


Introduction

Mr. Jon-Paul St. Germain, Senior Director, Sports Development and Operations Special

Olympics Inc, USA along with Mr. Dipak Natali, Director, Organizational Development, Special

Olympics Asia Pacific Region Office, travelled to India in July to assess impact of the Unified

Sports program in India as well as deliberate over enhancing its impact and reach as it enters

the second year of its implementation. Their tour covered the cities of Delhi, Hyderabad and

Vellore.

Unified Sports Event, Hyderabad

On July 10, in a Unified event held at the GMC Balayogi Stadium, Hyderabad, 30 Athletes from special schools along with 30 mainstream students from Meridian School, Kukatpally played together in a Unified Bocce Game. Unified Football training was also held with 30 Athletes and 30 unified partners participating in the session. Ms. Roshni Vijaya, principal, Meridian School, hosted all key representatives of Special Olympics International and Special Olympics Bharat and up to 800 people were in attendance.

The Special Olympics team proceeded for a meeting with Mr. Rahul Bojja, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Sports Authority (SA) of Andhra Pradesh. In a 60 minute meeting Special Olympics Bharat and Jon-Paul St. Germain introduced Mr Bojja to the concept of Unified Sports and the organisation's commitment to growing Unified Sports with ESPN's support. Mr Bojja was impressed and offer the continuing support of the SA towards the smooth conduct of similar trainings and competitions to be held by the organization throughout the state. Unified Football and Bocce


The next day began with a meeting with Mr. T.C. Shiva Kumar, Director, National institute of

Mentally Handicapped, discussing the Motor Activity Training Program ( MATP ). A proposal

was presented to build facilities for the activity within the NIMH campus in collaboration with

SOB-SOI . If approved, it will be the first MATP in India.

The launch of Project 365 Nirman, that takes a holistic approach to providing development

opportunities to children with special needs by taking them through a full range of creative

arts based activity, took place at the institute. This year being its fourth, the program runs for

48 days each year and is supported by JCI Hyderabad Synergy.


Nearly 650 people attended the event including students, teachers and representatives from

28 NGOs in the local area. Most of these individuals were already familiar with Special

Olympics but the SOI-SOB delegation took the opportunity to talk to them in depth about

Unified Sports. Following a 30-minute presentation, led by Bibek Bardhan, a cultural program

and exhibition led by Special Olympics athletes took place. One by one all representatives of

each of the NGO introduced themselves and also interacted with the Special Olympics

Representatives.This was followed by a cultural program and exhibition of drawings put up by

special athletes. News Coverage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9keIPOQdyc0&feature=youtu.be


Unified Sports Event, Vellore

3000 mainstream students and 200 Special Athletes from 15 schools played as team mates at

a Unified Sports Recreational event that was held at the Nethaji Stadium, Vellore 20 teams

(Male) and 10 teams (Females) played in a series of Unified 7 a side football matches and

Unified Bocce. Mr. Satish Pillai, Chairman, Special Olympics Bharat joined the team at the

event in Vellore.

Each team consisted of 4 Unified Partners and 3 Special Athletes in the demo events.

Although the Unified Sports format allows the ratio between Unified partners and Athletes to

be in favour of the Athletes, here the ratio was reversed as the objective was to make more

and more Unified Partners play with Athletes thus, sensitizing a larger number.


While the matches went on, a meeting with four District Education Officers was held where

the importance of making the mainstream students joining the Unified Sports program was

deliberated upon. It was understood that strengthening ties with the authorities would

contribute to the success of the program as the necessary permissions would be given for

their smooth conduct and large participation.

10-15 Print and TV Journalists were present to cover the program, aired live from 10AM to

5PM on AK TV.


The next day a meeting was held with Mr. Amit Kinger from Madras (Chennai) West Round

table 10 that culminated in a Unified Sport Event that is being planned for early January 2015

It will bring together 600 Athletes and 600 Volunteers from the Corporate world across

various sporting activities.

Youth Engagement Program, Delhi

Generating unmatched enthusiasm and energy, 13 Youth leaders, Unified Partners, Athletes

and Coaches from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi participated at a Youth Activation Program that

provided them with an opportunity to discuss their thoughts on inclusion in India today and

how they feel that they can have a personal impact on changing perceptions through

Community-based programs which could include Unified Sports. Dipak Natali and Jon-Paul St.

Germain were impressed with the determination and drive exhibited by the group.


Tanmay Aggarwal, Youth Leader , Apeejay School,

Delhi, -They need just a little bit from us. People who

haven’t met them have misconceptions about them.

Divyansh Verma, Youth Leader , Apeejay School, Delhi,

-

I think we should help them join us, even when we step

into the corporate world tomorrow. We should remove

discrimination

Rupender Yadav, Unified Partner , DAV School,

Gurgaon, - I was amazed when I played Cricket with them.

They just need to improve their skills a little, we can help

them do that.

Harman Sidhu, Unified Partner , DAV School, Gurgaon -

I think they are equally good in games. Some are even

better than us. In fact I learnt sign language by one of

them.

Navreet Kaur, Youth Leader , Apeejay

School, Delhi, -

An Athlete was so good in tattooing that I

got my full arm tattooed by him.


Already sensitized towards the abilities of Special Athletes through their participation at

Unified events previously, they expressed a strong desire to facilitate promotion of an

inclusive society.


Plans to keep the Youth engagement strong and persistent were deliberated upon, building

upon ideas generated by them. While the Unified Partners expressed a desire to continue

having Unified Sport events, the youth leaders came up with plans to engage their

communities in the process of inclusion through the conduct of Unified programs during

holidays .

Vision-ESPN 2014-2015

S. No States

Target upto Dec 2014

Target upto June 2015

Target upto Dec 2015

Total Target upto 2015

Athletes

Partners

Athletes

Partners

Athletes

Partners

Athletes

Partners

Total Regt.

1 Special Olympics Bharat - Andhra

5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 15000 15000 30000

2 Special Olympics Bharat - Assam & NE

500 500 500 500 500 500 1500 1500 3000

3 Special Olympics Bharat - Bihar

5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 15000 15000 30000

4 Special Olympics Bharat - Chandigarh

300 300 300 300 300 300 900 900 1800

5 Special Olympics Bharat - Chattisgarh

300 300 300 300 300 300 900 900 1800

6 Special Olympics Bharat - Delhi

1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 4500 4500 9000

7 Special Olympics Bharat - Goa

250 250 250 250 250 250 750 750 1500

8 Special Olympics Bharat - Gujarat

5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 15000 15000 30000

9 Special Olympics Bharat - Haryana

300 300 300 300 300 300 900 900 1800

10 Special Olympics Bharat - Himachal

250 250 250 250 250 250 750 750 1500

11 Special Olympics Bharat - Jharkhand

1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 4500 4500 9000


12 Special Olympics Bharat - J & K

250 250 250 250 250 250 750 750 1500

13 Special Olympics Bharat - Karnataka

300 300 300 300 300 300 900 900 1800

14 Special Olympics Bharat - Kerala

5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 15000 15000 30000

15 Special Olympics Bharat - Madhya Pradesh

5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 15000 15000 30000

16 Special Olympics Bharat - Maharashtra

5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 15000 15000 30000

17 Special Olympics Bharat - Odisha

300 300 300 300 300 300 900 900 1800

18 Special Olympics Bharat - Pondicherry

200 200 200 200 200 200 600 600 1200

19 Special Olympics Bharat - Punjab

300 300 300 300 300 300 900 900 1800

20 Special Olympics Bharat - Rajasthan

2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 6000 6000 12000

21 Special Olympics Bharat – Tamil Nadu

5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 15000 15000 30000

22 Special Olympics Bharat - UP

5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 5000 15000 15000 30000

23 Special Olympics Bharat - Uttrakhand

250 250 250 250 250 250 750 750 1500

24 Special Olympics Bharat - West Bengal

1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 4500 4500 9000

Total 50000

50000

50000

50000

50000

50000

150000

150000 30000

0

In a meeting held in Hyderabad, discussions were held to strengthen impact and reach of

ESPN project, as it enters Year 2 of its implementation in India. Alongside defining growth

targets, strengthening Communications and branding as well as collaborating with ESPN in

India, were considered steps that would augment the efficacy of the program.

Jon-Paul St. Germain Visits India

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