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ESPN Unified Sports Program
July 9-July 14, 2014
Jon-Paul St. Germain Visits India
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.