Luanda - At least 70 coaches will be trained from the 3rd to the 7th of December, in Luanda, as part of the development of the “Special Olympics”, an international organization created to insert people with intellectual disabilities into society through sport.
This action results from the seal of a cooperation protocol signed on Tuesday between the Angola Special Olympics Chair, Jean-Jacques da Conceição, and the African Special Olympics Confederation, Charles Nyambe.
The ceremony had the authorization and testimony of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, led by Rui Falcão, in an event that took place at this institution’s headquarters.
During the training period, coaches will be specialized in methodologies and rules taking into account athletes' special characteristics in basketball, football, gymnastics and swimming.
According to Jean-Jacques da Conceição, this training will allow the effective development of sports.
The objective, according to the former basketball player, is to expand activities in different disciplines, with a view to holding national and international competitions.
He said this is the highest point that Special Olympics Angola has reached since the implementation of the project in the country, back in 2022.
According to the source, Angola already has table tennis well underway and in the near future could begin organizing internal competitions.
In turn, Charles Nyambe stated that the cooperation protocol will allow the training of technicians, hoping to achieve the best results in the learning process.
He explained that the first phase of the project foresees inclusive work between athletes with and without disabilities in a unified way, in order to avoid possible “bullying” behavior and improve the integration of practitioners in society.
In Angola, the Special Olympics was launched in 2022 within a social inclusion sports development program, led by the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Data from the Ministry of Education reveal that by 2019 there were 33,612 students in the country in the special education subsystem, enrolled in 795 schools, 20 of which were special and 775 were inclusive.
This movement began in 1968, in the United States of America (USA).
Special Olympics is an international organization created to support people with intellectual disabilities to develop their self-confidence, interpersonal skills and sense of achievement.
Among others, the Special Olympics holds the World Games every two years, alternating between Summer Games and Winter Games.
To remember that in Angola there is another institution, the Angolan Paralympic Committee (CPA), which is responsible for the development of sport among people with disabilities.
Created on Nov 10, 1994, the organization operates athletics, football, wheelchair basketball and weightlifting.
It has in pipeline the launch of standing and sitting volleyball, goalball, tennis and the relaunch of swimming.
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