The Heart of Growth
You can measure success by the numbers, but it's what you learn along the way that really counts
by Timothy P. Shriver, Ph.D.
On 1 January 2006, the global Special Olympics family — athletes, family members, volunteers, staff members, sponsors and fans around the world — joined together to create a triumph: 2,256,733 Special Olympics athletes were competing in the world's greatest movement of sports, joy and human dignity. The movement doubled! The impossible was realized!
For everyone who played a role, however small, whether driving an athlete to an event, holding up a glass of water at the finish line, creating a plan, coaching a competitor, writing a check or cheering a winner, this is a time of celebration.
Five years ago, few expected that we would actually achieve our goals of reaching 1 million new athletes, of changing attitudes worldwide and of creating a culture of athlete leadership. But despite the obstacles, the athletes of Special Olympics have triumphed, sharing their courageous inspiration and generosity with a world hungering for both. One by one, they came to the starting line, and one by one, attitudes changed. Everyone who served with our athletes in any way should beam with pride. Now more than ever, Special Olympics is a world of winners.
Our athletes and the growth they've inspired have taught us lessons and changed us in ways we are still coming to understand. We know with new resolve that our athletes can be an inspiration in any country, no matter how divided; can mobilize any community, no matter how besieged; can prompt a rethink in any fan, no matter how jaded; can inspire generosity in any supporter, no matter how distracted.
Investing in Lives
The Campaign for Special Olympics not only supported the most ambitious growth campaign in Special Olympics history but it also created a new group of supporters and friends to the movement. The following individuals and organizations, through their generous support, have been instrumental in making sure that people with intellectual disabilities are not left behind. They have helped change the lives of 1,270,760 new athletes around the world. Their legacy has empowered Special Olympics to better the lives of as many people in the last five years as have been transformed in the last thirty.
Steve and Jean Case
Peter and Carolyn Lynch
Joan Kroc
Lions Club International
A Very Special Christmas
Michael and Jennifer Price
Kim Samuel Johnson
The Gang Family Foundation
Myer Feldman
Ray and Stephanie Lane
John and Mary Manley
Winnick Family Foundation
Mark and Lauren Booth
Ossie and Anna Kilkenny
Stephen and Rosemarie Johnson
Gert Boyle
Michael J. Smurfit
Malini Alles and Stree Foundation
Paul Newman and Newman's Own
John Stanton and Theresa Gillespie
Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger
UEFA
Kim Elliott and Mark Rayford
Microsoft Foundation |
When the athletes of Special Olympics are on the playing field, are on the Boards of Directors, are coaching a skill, are speaking at the podium, everything changes. Witnessing such moments of triumph, no one can doubt that fear can be overcome, that acceptance can be our common ground, that the human spirit can soar.
We will continue to learn the lessons of growth, attitude change and athlete leadership in the years ahead, but already, a few key changes in Special Olympics are evident.
Special Olympics is not one country's movement. It is global!
Looking back to the founding years of Special Olympics and to the heroic determination of revolutionaries like my mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, it was clear that Special Olympics had a vision that could capture the world's attention. During the early years, our movement grew stronger and stronger in the United States until spreading to other countries.
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Explosive growth took place throughout most of the seven Special Olympics regions, including a six-fold increase in athletes in East Asia.
Meet Special Olympics China athlete Yang "Judy" Yan, who works to build acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities by speaking to students, organizations and corporations. |
In 2006, the full reach of the vision became a reality: Special Olympics is now a global movement — as compelling and meaningful in every country as in any one. We are no longer an export from one land to another, but are rather the full and rightful movement of any group of athletes, family members and volunteers who chose to bring the movement to life. With more than 150 active and growing countries, we are a global movement — local everywhere we exist and united in one vision.
Special Olympics is not "nice." It is "important."
Over the years, millions have come to experience the fun and enthusiasm of Special Olympics training and competition, but too frequently, that has led to the conclusion that our work is "nice" and maybe even "good," but not "important." In 2006, all that changed. There is no doubt now that Special Olympics is important.
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Witnessing moments of Special Olympics triumph, no one can doubt that fear can be overcome, that acceptance can be our common ground, that the human spirit can soar. |
Special Olympics has gained importance in several ways. Our training and competition have always been and will continue to be an important source of health, fitness, pride and achievement for our athletes. But it is clearly important for others also.
Special Olympics is a training ground for volunteerism and, as such, has become a catalytic force for the creation of civil society, citizen engagement and community empowerment. Special Olympics provides family support, enabling family members to become stronger advocates for change. Special Olympics is a training ground for the message of human dignity, bringing young people lessons and experiences reinforcing universal equality. Finally, Special Olympics is a training ground for leaders in health care, who come to our Games to share the gift of health but who leave our Games having learned the urgency of overcoming discrimination and neglect in health-care training and services.
Civil society, education, family support, health care — each of these is the work of Special Olympics and, in 2006, they make the point: we are engaged in transformative work worldwide — important in every way.
Special Olympics is not an event. It's a movement.
Too frequently, people still ask when the next Special Olympics event will be, expecting to hear "next year" rather than the correct answer — "today."
In 2006, with nearly 25,000 competitions around the world, with training taking place every day, with family leaders, athlete leaders and volunteers extending our message every day, Special Olympics is no longer just an event. We are a movement, inviting the world not just to attend games but to think, feel and act differently about everything. One doesn't go to Special Olympics; one is a part of Special Olympics. In the words of Ud Bar-Peled, Chairman of Special Olympics Israel, "Special Olympics is not a program. It is a way of life."
Special Olympics is not about "them." It's about all of "us."
For years, we have focused rightly on our number one customer: the athletes. They are the reason for our movement and the source of leadership for our vision. Our slogan could well be, "Show me the athlete!"
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In 2006, Special Olympics is still a movement centered on sports for athletes with intellectual disabilities. But as we span the globe, Special Olympics is also about its message to everyone else: come join the change; come help create a world of victory without conquest, power without corruption and pride without prejudice for all. |
But in another way, the campaign has helped us understand that the athlete is not our only "customer." Athletes are the force driving change for all of us, promoting their vision of a world without — a world of victory without conquest, power without corruption and pride without prejudice. In this world without, the target audience is not any one group but all of us gathered together to learn from and be transformed by the example of the athlete. In 2006, Special Olympics is still a movement centered on sports for athletes with intellectual disabilities. But as we span the globe, Special Olympics is also about its message to everyone else: come join the change; come help create a world without for all.
With these important lessons from our athletes, we look to building an even brighter future for our small, struggling planet. We understand that we have a long road ahead of us to reach every person with an intellectual disability who is looking for a chance. We will not rest until we make our world whole by extending the chance to all.
Shriver is Chairman of the Board of Special Olympics, Inc. |
