Belizean participants prepare for Central American Games
This week the Special Olympics Belize Committee held its second annual summer camp at Stella Maris School in Belize City. According to the organization, in previous years, youths with disabilities have been known to roam the streets in the months when schools are closed. At the end of 2006, the board of directors felt it necessary to combat this problem by engaging these youths in productive activities; hence the development of the sports camp and fitness training programme. This year, however, the camp is also being used to prepare participants for the second Central American Games for Students with Disabilities, taking place in Nicaragua in October. This afternoon Akintade Atkens, the National Director of Special Olympics Belize, told News Five what the kids have been up to.
Akintade Atkens, National Director
“It is being used as an avenue to get our athletes the entire delegation that we always send to the Central American Games, which this year will be taking place in Nicaragua. So besides saying all persons with varying degrees and different types of disabilities here today, you will also be meeting the athletes that will be representing Belize in the second Central American Games for students with disabilities which will be taking place in Managua, Nicaragua. One other thing that we have seen with this camp is that it’s also fascinating, it’s an avenue for persons with disabilities to enhance their social skills. Like you would see them in a particular Japanese folk lore dance, you will also be seeing the coaches and the athletes being introduced to a unique game of floor hockey, which I don’t think is being played by anybody in Belize. So you will also be seeing that. The camp really speaks directly to the holistic and inclusive approach of learning and conditioning of the minds of persons with disabilities.”
Forty athletes and fifteen coaches are taking part in the one-week camp which ends on Saturday. The Central American Games for Students with Disabilities takes place in Managua, Nicaragua from the fourth to the eighth of October.
