|
| |
|
Special Olympics Ireland athletics coach Phyllis Gilliland |
© from The Irish Times 28 June 2003. Reprinted with permission, all rights reserved.
"It will be a big downer next week. I don't want it to stop," said Special Olympics Ireland athletics coach Phyllis Gilliland in the final days of the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games.
One of the team's archetypal energetic, jocular volunteers — "You'll recognize me," she says, "I'm the tall, skinny drink of water" — she could be found this week jogging around Morton Stadium between events with her squad, stopping off to mingle with the crowd. "This is all part of the Games. It's about raising awareness," she remarks as a gang of schoolkids gather around. "These kids probably think disability means 'can't walk, can't talk'. To meet the athletes, and know they have ability, helps to change that."
It certainly does, judging by the reaction of the girls of St Brigid's, Glasnevin, who are on a day-trip to the track. "They're cool," says Jessica Smyth as she displays her collection of autographs from the team. "Look, they signed my flag," classmate Deirdre O'Brien interjects.
A PE lecturer from Co Antrim who is 15 years with Special Olympics, Gilliland is representative of something that is core to the Team Ireland family. She is enthusiastic, committed and humble, forever projecting praise onto her charges, each one of whom she regards as an equal. There's Fergal O'Regan, a late-comer to the squad who "worked his socks off" for a 400m bronze; Moira Moran "a really talented girl"; and Geraldine O'Regan who was "very quiet" to start off with but "now keeps the young people going". "Every one of them is now making conversations," Gilliland notes. "For these people, a conversation is a big thing."
One can see it everywhere — in the casual manner of Fergal O'Regan as he chats, one minute to passers-by, the next to his family who have traveled up from Carrigrohane in Cork to see him. Asked whether he is feeling homesick, he mulls it over for a while before admitting, "a small bit".
"It's another aspect, being away with the team for two weeks," says Gilliland. "A lot of them have never been away before, let alone for so long."
Then there's the physical benefit. Special Olympics breaks the link between disability and sedentary patterns associated with heart and liver disease. "The athletes are so much more healthy. They're looking better, they're eating better. When they're hungry, they don't want a fizzy drink or junk food but look for a banana instead." When one talks about the legacy of the Games, this will be part of it. A new energy and health within the family. New confidence and new friends made.
|
