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December 3, 2021
Special Olympics Europe Eurasia has launched a unique online-offline activity hub and campaign called Faces of Basketball to celebrate European Basketball Week 2021 (EBW) and today’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities. It will be available to athletes, coaches and supporters across the region in six European languages: English, French, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish, tailored to the current COVID-19 recovery reality.
2020 Beyond Sport Global Award shortlisters, Special Olympics, is a global movement to create a new world of inclusion and community, where every single person is accepted and welcomed, regardless of ability or disability. Operating in 172 countries, the organization provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and share friendship with communities.
Faces of Basketball, supported by Lions Clubs International Foundation and Toyota, increases the visibility of people with intellectual disabilities. The organization notes that those who have become less visible since the pandemic can take part and feel inspired by the athletes from across the region who front the campaign. Tamara Medarts, Special Olympics Belgium, Lorenzo Mancino, Special Olympics Italy and Petrisor Ionut Catalin, Special Olympics Romania are bringing visibility to the movement and their fellow athletes through their participation in a ‘Locker Room’ online video training sessions.
With Europe once again at the epicenter of the pandemic, the platform offers athletes who cannot attend competitions the opportunity to follow ‘Locker Room’ training videos created by Special Olympics athletes and coaches in Belgium, Italy and Romania. The hub also provides an online showcase for 200+ safe, local grassroots activities. Additionally, anyone – player, coach or supporter – can show their support by creating a personalised Faces of Basketball profile card in the ‘Hall of Fame’ and sharing on their social media channels.
Basketball player Petrisor Ionut Catalin felt the loss of connection at the height of the pandemic. He says, “It was hard that I couldn’t go out anymore, I didn’t meet my friends at competitions and I didn’t do sports anymore.” Valerie Geluykens and Tamara Medarts, a Unified Coaching Pair from Belgium, also missed face-to-face sports training and competition during lockdown. Valerie said: “We both missed basketball: being able to do sport, other than walking, biking or running… but also the team: as a player and as a coach. During Covid, the world got so much smaller.”
A 2021 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst found that people with intellectual disabilities are almost six times more likely to die from COVID-19 than the general population. According to Special Olympics, in 2020 there was more than a 40% drop in the numbers of athletes engaged and able to access Special Olympics sport training and competition, a decrease of 2.5 million globally and of 100,000 in Europe.
“The COVID pandemic has deepened the isolation and marginalization of our athletes and individuals with intellectual disabilities both globally and here in Europe Eurasia. Many have lost a vital lifeline to sport. Our Faces of Basketball provides a key platform to re-engage athletes in a way that is safe, sustainable and fun – blending physical play with virtual connection,” said Special Olympics President and Managing Director, David Evangelista.
“People with intellectual disabilities are six times more likely to die from COVID than the general population, so a ‘return to play’ strategy is not a simple proposition for a population subset at this level of risk – but through their leadership our movement perseveres, thrives and is ready to get back in the game.”
Special Olympics were 2020 Beyond Sport Global Award shortlisters.
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