Special Olympics National Floor Hockey Games tomorrow

The games are scheduled to begin at 9am with a brief opening ceremony, and Minister of Sport and Youth Affairs Darryl Smith is expected to preside over it and declare the event open.

Floor Hockey is an adaptation of Ice Hockey and can be played on any smooth surface. It is also similar to Indoor Hockey, which is played annually in TT , in that it is contested among teams of six players each. The national Special Olympics team has excelled at the sport, picking up a bronze medal at the 2013 World Special Olympics Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Floor Hockey is recognised as a Winter Sport, and Saturday’s tournament will assist in the selection and preparation of players to contest the event at the next Special Olympics World Winter Games, to be played in Graz, Austria in 2017.

Aside from playing the traditional team games, the special athletes will be tested for their aptitude at individual skills, and there will also be a unified hockey game, in which the Paragon club players will team up with the special athletes, and these mixed teams will play games against each other.

“Unified Sports” are just that- they combine athletes with intellectual disabilities and partners without such challenges to play on the same team. It is an initiative to foster greater acceptance, inclusion and respect of persons with intellectual disabilities and to showcase their capabilities.

The Paragon club is currently defending the Women’s Open title at the National Indoor Hockey Championships, while its men’s team is attempting to go one better than the runners-up position it earned last year.

The estimated 135 athletes for the event will be representing eight special schools from across the country; 20 coaches and chaperones and over 50 volunteers will assist in the running of the event.