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by Simbarashe Chiminya
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Special Olympics Zimbabwe “reserve” athletes, who did not attend the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games in China, attended a workshop in Mozambique in May to experience a cross-border experience of their own. (Photos Courtesy of Special Olympics Zimbabwe | For many Special Olympics Zimbabwe athletes, it was a long, suspense-filled journey to an unknown land, with a different language. It took two days to reach their destination. But at the end of this trip, lay the beginning of a new and yet different journey. It was to be the start of another voyage, with long-lasting benefits for athletes.
The athletes left Harare on 23 May for a ten-day Athlete Leadership Programs (ALPs) workshop and sports training camp in Mozambique.
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99 percent of the Special Olympics Zimbabwe athletes who attended the workshop have never seen the ocean. |
True to its expectations, the workshop unearthed hidden talents among the athletes. They demonstrated that they are quite capable of coaching and organizing sports competitions on their own.
By the end of the fourth day, Bhekhi Lunga, from Bulawayo, and Rodwell Mandibaya, from Harare, had already shown their abilities as good leaders by organising a successful bocce competition without the assistance of their facilitators.
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Athletes enjoy a day on an Indian Ocean beach during the Athlete Leadership Program workshop. |
And by the end of the workshop it was apparent that all the athletes had learned something from the experience, which they promised to relay to fellow Special Olympics athletes back home in Zimbabwe.
Bhekhi Lunga said the workshop gave him the platform to showcase some of his abilities. “The workshop helped me to show the facilitators that I can be a good coach, and also that I can organise competitions, like I did with bocce,” he said. “I commend Special Olympics Zimbabwe for holding such a workshop, as this empowers athletes and will go a long way toward developing sport in the country,” added Lunga.
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Special Olympics Zimbabwe athlete Patience Banda enjoys a little “down time” in the Indian Ocean, during the workshop. |
Fellow participant Rodwell Mandibaya said the workshop helped dispel stereotypes associated with people with intellectual disabilities. He affirmed that Special Olympics athletes have the same zeal and skill to succeed as able-bodied athletes. “The workshop showed that we could organise our own competitions without the help of facilitators. We suffer from negative stereotypes, but the workshop afforded us the chance to interact and share ideas. I want to tell people that disability does not mean inability,” said Mandibaya, who also is a member of the Special Olympics Zimbabwe Board of Directors.
Special Olympics Zimbabwe National Director, Bonny Woodman, said she came up with the idea of the ALPS/Sports Workshop in order to give reserve athletes and coaches who didn't go to China last year, a cross-border experience.
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