Bibby calls for more support for Tobago special athletes

FERDINAND BIBBY, national director for the Special Olympics Trinidad and Tobago, is asking for more support from the Tobago public for special athletes.

Speaking to Newsday at the third edition of the annual Special Olympic TT, Tobago Games hosted at the Shaw Park cultural complex, Bibby said, “Normally we would have an empty stadium while the athletes are performing so it’s good to see some people in Tobago took the time to come out and give the athletes more support.

“We hope this support can increase as we continue to host these games in Tobago.”

He said the athletes are not exposed to enough physical education at schools and more must be done to give special students a chance to participate in the discipline.

“We (are) also looking at challenges in schools (including) the lack of dedicated physical education teachers for our special pupils,” said Bibby. “This causes the athletes to be exposed to lifestyle diseases. Many times the teachers are part time and that does not provide excellence for the athletes.

“Access is also a major problem and when we speak about access we are not only talking about wheelchair or for facilities but also access to the various venues,” he continued.

“In order for our special athletes to train there must be proper training facilities. We try to encourage opportunities for athletes to train in their communities just like any other athletes.”

He said the games are to help raise awareness on the importance and uniqueness of special athletes and, at the same time, recruit athletes for the Special Olympics TT team. Over 75 athletes from the Happy Haven School for the Deaf, Speech and Language Impaired as well as Technical and Vocational Education and Training in Tobago competed in athletics and football games.

This year the organisations partnered with the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) to provide health screening for all athletes.

The Tobago special games are a part of a community coaching caravan established by Norma James, who served as a director and chairman of the Special Olympics committee.

Bibby said he was pleased with Tobago’s athlete Sapphire Jackson performance in the recent World Summer Games, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Jackson won gold in the Softball throw, with an effort of 7.83 metres, and earned a silver in the 100m Walk event in a time of 19.27 seconds.

“We are always glad when our athlete achieve at Special Olympics,” he said. “We stress individual performance of the athletes as well as the achieving of medals.

“Sapphire would have been among the long list of Tobago athletes who would have achieved at World Games in the past. We have always had athletes from Tobago who would always do well in the Special Olympics in Trinidad also.”

Yesterday’s event served as a gauge for Tobago athletes ahead of the Special Olympics National Games, which will be held in Port of Spain on May 18.