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Special Olympics Jamaica athletes train for their next volleyball competition. |
Networking is the art of building alliances. It was never more evident than at the volleyball venue during the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Shanghai, China, when Jamaican coach Orville Mcatty struck up a conversation with the sport's assistant technical delegate, Daniel Leake from Virginia (USA).
Mcatty wanted to know what happened to the leftover equipment, once the World Games were over, as Special Olympics Jamaica didn't have much and could really use it. Lots of times, he explained, they'd just throw up a rope to use as a volleyball net. Mcatty was told it stayed in the World Games host country to help the Special Olympics Program there.
Although that was the end of the discussion, for Leake and several of the World Games volleyball referees, it was the start of an idea whose wheels were set in motion before their planes landed back home in the United States and Denmark. They all wanted to help Special Olympics Jamaica.
Leake knew his fellow volleyball colleagues and the sport's competitors weren't just “diggers” and “spikers”?they were a community with heart. So Leake readied his pitch. Each year, he runs a large junior's volleyball tournament consisting of more than 250 teams. When he told them about Special Olympics Jamaica's need for equipment and asked teams to leave a ball after the competition, they rallied for the cause. He also asked referees to make a donation.
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Jamaica volleyball coach Orville Mcatty (right) and his team at the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in China. |
“When Orville said that Special Olympics Jamaica was in need of some equipment, I knew the volleyball community would help out. We had lots of coaches and referees donate money and volleyballs and the project just seemed to grow. Like most sports, volleyball people like to take care of their own, and I'm really proud at how they stepped up to help the athletes in Jamaica.”
Mcatty, who has been a Special Olympics Jamaica coach for 14 years, said he's never seen anything like this before. “We are no longer East or West, but one world with the same challenges. The athletes will benefit much more when we combine our resources of time, skills, equipment and money.”
Before they received the extra balls and money to buy nets, athletes' practice time was limited because they had to share a small pool of equipment. Now, many more athletes can play.
Mcatty reports that as a result of the generosity of the volleyball community, Jamaica has even been able to initiate a Young Athletes™ program to encourage the newest members of the next generation to get hooked on the sport of volleyball. For the coaches, referees and athletes in the world's volleyball community, this is an inspiring example of “networking” at its best.
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