By Shannon Hicks

The American Heart Association (AHA) says it is the lack of physical activity in humans that leads to heart problems more than anything else. Studies have shown that exercise reduces the risk of heart disease, and that less fit people have a 30 to 50 percent greater risk of developing high blood pressure than those who exercise. Regular activity may also reduce the risk of some kinds of embolic strokes, the AHA also points out.

Physical inactivity has long been established as a major risk factor for the development of coronary artery disease, obesity, high blood pressure, and low levels of HDL cholesterol (the so-called “good” cholesterol a body needs).

Physical activity need not be strenuous to bring health benefits. Older adults and people with disabilities can gain significant health benefits, says the AHA, with even a moderate amount of physical activity.

According to Reuters Health, not only is exercise good for everyone, but so is the simple act of being social. Increasing numbers of reports, including one released just last month, are suggesting that people with more active social lives live longer and get sick less often.

“Social relationships may favorably enhance health behaviors,” wrote a team of researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in a report published in March 2000.

More than 7.2 million children and adults in the United States have some form of mental retardation. The American Association of Mental Retardation defines mental retardation not as a medical or mental disorder. It is a particular state of functioning that begins in childhood and is characterized by limitation in both intelligence and adaptive skills. Related limitations fall in two or more of the following adaptive skill areas: communication, home living, self-care, social skills, commnity use, self-directions, health and safety, functional academics, leisure and work.

Mental retardation manifests itself in a person before the age of 18. As recently as three decades ago, the majority of these people would have been hushed away to asylums or other “special care” homes, out of the public eye and largely ignored by family members.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver may not have had an inkling about the health and social benefits of what she was about to do, but 31 years ago Mrs Kennedy Shriver followed a passionate conviction that persons with mental retardation of all ages could and should be able to take part in and benefit from competitive sports. Though many so-called experts of the time were opposed to the idea of competition for persons with mental handicaps, Mrs Shriver was convinced that they could, with training and practice, learn to run a race, throw a ball, swim, and play team sports.

She also believed they could experience, for perhaps the first time in their lives, how liberating it is to train and to learn, to strive and test one’s skills, and to be a winner. Mrs Shriver felt certain the lessons learned through sports would translate into a new competence and success in school, the workplace and the community.

Above all, Mrs Shriver wanted the families, neighbors and friends of persons with mental disabilities to see that these people — these potential athletes — could indeed accomplish something, take pride in their efforts, and rejoice in their victories.

A concept was initialized in the early 1960s when Mrs Shriver started a day camp for people with mental retardation. She immediately began to see that her opinions were correct: People with mental retardation were far more capable in sports and physical activities than people believed possible.

On July 20, 1968, at Soldier Field in Chicago, Ill, under the guidance and leadership of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the first International Special Olympics Games were held.

Since 1968, millions of children and adults with mental retardation have participated in Special Olympics. The idea has grown into an international organization that provides year-round sports training and competitions to over 1.2 million athletes annually, offering 26 sports, both Olympic events and nationally-popular sports. Special Olympics (SO) has program offices in every state in the United States and over 143 countries.

To be eligible to participate in Special Olympics, an athlete must be at least eight years old and identified by an agency or professional as having a condition of mental retardation.

The benefits of participation in SO for people with mental retardation include improved physical fitness and motor skills, greater self-confidence, a more positive self-image, friendships, and in many cases increased family support. Athletes carry these benefits with them into their daily lives at home, in the classroom, on the job, and in the community.

Special Olympics believes competition among those of similar abilities is the best way to test its athletes’ skills, measure their progress, and inspire them to grow. The organization feels its program of sports training and competition helps people with mental retardation become more physically fit, and grow mentally, socially and spiritually. And Special Olympics believes consistent training is required to develop sports skills, which is why teams or individuals are required to attend weekly practices for their events.

SO holds competitions at the local, regional, state, national and international level. Five years ago, New Haven played host to the Special Olympics World Games, drawing attention to a Connecticut city from across the country and the globe.

It was fitting for the Games to finally be held in the Nutmeg States. Connecticut’s SO program (SOCT) is 31 years old, having been incepted the same year helped host those first games in Chicago. Connecticut’s programs are among the most diverse and innovative in the world. Today SOCT hosts over 50 tournaments and competitions annually in 21 sports, representing 6,300 athletes.

Connecticut’s programs include the traditional training for athletes to compete in everything from alpine and cross-country skiing, golf, sailing, tennis, soccer, volleyball, power lifting and bowling, among its offerings.

Special programs in the state include the Unified Sports® Program, which combines an approximately equal number of athletes with mental retardation (Athletes) and non-disabled athletes (called Special Partners) on teams to compete in a variety of sports. Unified Sports® was adopted into the SOCT program in 1989.

Special rules regulating Unified® games help ensure that all team members on both teams play a valued role on their respective teams, while striving to improve athletic ability and skill performance. Ideally, Athletes and Special Partners are on teams of the same age range and ability level.

Unified Sports® also helps increase public awareness of the spirit, skills and abilities of those with mental retardation. Team members tend to develop their self-esteem, and they develop friendships just like their peers on the Traditional (athletes-only) teams, with the possibility of bringing their game skills up a notch higher than they would have accomplished on a Traditional team.

Connecticut also hosts the SOCT/CAS (CT Association of Schools, a non-profit education and activity organization) partnership, which brings the Unified Sports® guidelines into a number of the state’s public and parochial schools. This program, which began in 1992, uses the game field as a forum to break down barriers and help mainstream students with mental disabilities.

The Partnership currently has 1,100 athletes participating. There are sporting skills events for elementary-age students, and then soccer, basketball, volleyball and softball Partnership teams for the middle and high school levels.

Also in Connecticut, the Motor Activities Training Program (MATP) is offered for athletes with “profound” disabilities; the Masters Sports Program offers competition for athletes over the age of 40; the Global Messenger Program trains athletes in public speaking so that they can in turn serve as spokesmen for Special Olympics; and the Officials Program for Athletes®, which allows people with mental retardation to become certified sports officials through mentor training. Additionally, two athletes currently serve as members of the SOCT Board of Directors, and several others serve on various organizational committees.

A Year-Round Effort

One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding Special Olympics is that Games are held only occasionally. In fact, there are tournaments held on the local level at least four times a year, and offerings for different sports every month of the year.

Connecticut’s Special Olympics program is in the initial stages of a year-round, statewide overhaul of its program. None of the offerings will be discontinued, but the hope is to make the tournaments more of a focal point, held once each season.

Connecticut is divided into ten areas/regions, and the local programs serving as a point of entry for athletes, families and the volunteer coaches. The regional programs are led by an area or regional director, and a volunteer area management team.

There are more than 10,000 volunteers, 1,200 volunteer coaches, and numerous corporate and civic organizations, in addition to the 6,300 athletes and their families who make up Connecticut’s full Special Olympics team.

Newtown is a member of the Special Olympics Connecticut/Danbury Community program. SOCT/DC serves the towns of Bethel, Bethlehem, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, Kent, Morris, New Milford, New Fairfield, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Sherman, Southbury (although Southbury Training School hosts its own program), Washington and Woodbury.

Up until late last year, the Danbury Community teams were competing year round. There was one major tournament, in June, called the Summer Games, which hosted competitions in soccer, tennis, aquatics, athletics (track and field events, primarily), gymnastics and cycling.

Danbury Community athletes had the rest of the year to compete in the other eight sports programs hosted by Danbury, and every one of those sports had its own mini-tournament at the conclusion of an eight-week practice season.

“It was very taxing, to say the least, on our resources and our volunteers,” said Kevin Cooper. Mr Cooper, a full-time employee at DATAHR in Brookfield, is the local coordinator for SOC/Danbury Community.

Now, Connecticut has reorganized its program, which went into effect at the beginning of the year.

“We’re now trying to offer not only some new sports, but there are going to be only four major tournaments each year,” Mr Cooper explained. “We’re hoping to turn this into more of a seasonal situation, where you’ll have Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter Tournaments,” he continued.

“That way we can conserve some of our resources, and it won’t be as time-consuming for our athletes, our volunteers and coaches, and even for the parents.

“We’re also scheduled things so that there will only be one mandatory practice each week [for each sport],” he went on. In the past, Connecticut’s programs saw that finding volunteers to work with athletes every week was difficult enough, but when two nights a week had to be committed to — which was what was happening with many of the sports programs — the volunteer pool quickly drained.

By having one mandatory practice each week, Mr Cooper says, the hope is more volunteers will commit to that one night each week to work with the athletes during the season.

While there is now only one mandatory weekly practice, Mr Cooper says there will also be a second, voluntary, practice for teams and individuals. Athletes can choose to take advantage of thee optional training times — to improve their athletic skills as well as to enjoy more of the social time that remains at the heart of Special Olympics — or they may opt to work their schedules only around the mandatory practices.

“You need to train, so you have to work hard at one event,” Mr Cooper said. “But now the athletes can also spend time with more than one practicing group each week.

“I have absolutely no problem with athletes hanging out with their friends at other practices, getting outside for some fresh air and getting more exercise,” he added. “That’s what it’s all about, and in the long run it’s all going to benefit the program.”

The 2000 Special Olympics Connecticut (SOCT) calendar has already taken care of its first tournament under its reorganization. The State Winter Games offered competitions in alpine skiing, cross country skiing, figure skating, floor hockey and speed skating in the Simsbury/East Hartford area of the state over the February 26-27 weekend.

The SOCT State Summer Games are moving this year, from the campuses of Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University in Fairfield to the grounds of Yale University and Southern CT State University, both in New Haven, the weekend of June 9-11. The Summer Games will continue to host aquatics, athletics, cycling, gymnastics, soccer and tennis.

The SOCT Fall Sports Festival, scheduled for the weekend of September 16-17, will offer golf, sailing, softball and Masters sporting events. Events will be a little less centralized than the year’s other three tournaments, with competitions currently scheduled in New London and Vernon, but all fall sports will still culminate with a season-ending tournament.

And in November, the SOCT Holiday Sports Classic will return to the centralized format, with basketball, bowling, powerlifting and volleyball all bring offered in locations in Stratford, Milford and Woodbridge.

Athlete enrollment in the greater Danbury area has, according to the area coordinator, “exploded.”

“We had about 35 total active athletes in the program about 18 months ago,” when Mr Cooper took on the post of SOCT/DCO area coordinator. “Now we’re looking at over 200 people. We’ve obviously got a lot of new athletes in the program, and we’re going to continue to encourage everyone who has a disability to become included in Special Olympics.

“We want to get them outside, especially for the Summer Games, for some fresh air and some exercise,” Mr Cooper said.

The Program’s Backbone

Timothy P. Shriver, PhD, is the current president and CEO of Special Olymics, Inc. In his most recent annual letter to the Special Olympics community, Mr Shriver wrote in part, “...we have learned much. Training and year-round participation are at the heart of the athlete’s experience.

“High-quality coaching is the key ingredient. Regular, fair competition celebrates each athlete’s contribution. Families are the basis of who we are, and volunteers drive the movement.”

Special Olympics as a movement depends fully on its volunteers, as was expressed by Mr Cooper in some of his earlier comments. Volunteers play a variety of roles, from coaches and officials to fundraisers or scorekeepers and timers. There are jobs at all levels of competition, for all ages.

“This restructured calendar really seems to have increased interest in our volunteers,” Mr Cooper said recently. As April begins, so does the practice season for the State Summer Games and the need for a full crew of volunteers to help with the weekly practices. Volunteers work with the athletes, developing the skills the athletes will need once it is time to compete at the end of the season.

Regular physical activity offers nothing but benefits for a person, mentally handicapped or not. It helps improve blood circulation throughout the body, which helps the lungs, heart and other organs work together more effectively. It improves the body’s ability to use oxygen and provides the energy needed for an active lifestyle.

Special Olympics nurtures, develops and celebrates the athletic gifts of people with mental retardation. It encourages participation.

Thanks to the foresight of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and the continuing efforts of volunteers on a global scale, mentally handicapped people of all ages are continuing to live happier, healthier lives with the introduction of Special Olympics to their communities.