NOTE: This article appeared in the Jan. 17 edition of North Hawaii News. It was reprinted with permission from the editor.
Special Olympics seeks North Hawaii delegation
By Ron Eland
North Hawaii News
For 40 years, Special Olympics has provided a venue for millions of people worldwide with intellectual disabilities to participate in a variety of sporting events.
And now, even more potential athletes may soon be able to have a delegation to call their own in North Hawaii.
Special Olympics Hawaii currently has just one delegation in all of West Hawaii — which is based in Kona — while the east side has more than a half dozen.
“We want to be able to eliminate athletes and their families from having to drive to either Kona or Hilo to participate in our sports program,” said Nip Ho, vice president of area services for Special Olympics Hawaii. “We want to have a program where everyone has an opportunity and the ability to train and compete in sports.”
Nikki Cleintuar, a longtime volunteer for the West Hawaii program, agreed.
“Up to now, athletes on the north end of the island have had to travel to Kona to participate in Special Olympics (officially, the West Hawaii program includes Waimea and Waikoloa) or they could choose to go with East Hawaii,” she said. “For many families, either option has been too difficult. There are reportedly many more eligible school-aged youngsters who are not being served, hence the urgent need for getting this new delegation started. The north side has needed their own delegation for a long time and it’s going to require a huge effort on the part of everyone to make it successful.”
Ho said the new delegation would serve athletes from Waimea, Honokaa, Kohala and Waikoloa. She said about a half dozen athletes travel from Honokaa to Hilo for practice and events. They, too, would be eligible to join the new delegation.
Currently of the nearly 30 members of the West Hawaii delegation, only two — 15-year-old Cory Enriquez of Waikoloa and 18-year-old Preston Buckley of Waimea — hail from North Hawaii.
“I think it’s a really good idea because we need something here in order to get more people involved,” said Carolyn Enriquez, Cory’s mom. “Personally I’ve talked to a few families in this area. I also tried recruiting families (from North Hawaii) for the Kona delegation and I found that the biggest obstacle was transportation to the practices and events. With Waimea’s central location, hopefully more people will sign up.”
This isn’t the first time the West Hawaii chapter has tried to branch out to other areas.
Cleintuar said that they recently tried to start a delegation in the Konawaena area. But despite sending out numerous fliers to the schools and parents, she said not one was returned. Both she sand Ho agreed that that in some people’s minds there’s a stigma attached to Special Olympics.
“For years the face of Special Olympics was a that of a Down Syndrome athlete,” said Ho, adding that only 10 percent of their athletes have Down Syndrome. “The stigma is what often keeps people away but once they join, they quickly see that the stigma isn’t true. I can’t tell you the last time we heard about a child being teased in school for being in Special Olympics.”
Ho went on to say that everything in Special Olympics is based on an athlete’s ability — not their IQ.
“We care about how fast they can run the 100 meter dash, not how well they read,” she said. “Our mission is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.”
Special Olympics Hawaii’s sports year consists of track and field in the spring, soccer or bocce ball (lawn bowling) in the summer and basketball in the fall. Also included throughout the year is the Unified Partners program which teams members of the community with Special Olympians for sports such as bowling.
So what does it take to start a new delegation? Ho said obviously they participants (from children to adults) and even though they have just two so far, that’s enough to start.
From there, they need Special Olympic-certified coaches (which is done free of charge on Oahu) and finally they need to have proper facilities. She said for track and field, they will be contacting area high schools to see if they can use their facilities while with the other sports, they hope to work with county parks and recreation.
“We can start with the two (athletes) we have but we’re hoping this will open the door to many, many others,” she said. “The benefits to athletes when they join our program is so much more than better physical fitness — they improve their self confidence and their self esteem, improve attention span and most important they make new lifelong friends.”
For more information on the new delegation, contact West Hawaii Area Director Dave Ross at 345-1344.
