by Krzysztof Krukowski, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia
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Table tennis action in Minsk. (Photo by Krzysztof Krukowski, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia) |
More than 110 athletes from 11 centers for people with intellectual disabilities participated in the first National Special Olympics Table Tennis Tournament organized in Staiki, 20 km from Minsk, Belarus, from 1-3 June, 2005.
Held at the Olympic Sport Complex, the event brought three days of enjoyment not only to the competing Special Olympics athletes who ranged in age from 11 to over 40, but also to the 120 volunteers and eight referees. The volunteers, students from the national Pedagogical National University and Medical University, and the referees, from the Belarus Table Tennis Federation, said they rallied around the unofficial slogan, “How can we make our athletes happy?” which resulted in many friendships being formed during the event.
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Volunteer Victoria Wroblevskaya with Special Olympics table tennis player Angela Surikova. (Photo by Krzysztof Krukowski, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia) |
Victoria Wroblevskaya, one of the volunteer students, said, “Angela [Surikova] walked up to me and said ‘What it is your role here?’ I told her that I was here to make sure she enjoyed the tournament. She must have liked my answer because we spent a lot of time together. Angela is a very good table tennis player and she is also a very nice person! I am very happy I can help her and the other competitors.”
Mikhail Vaskovich, one of referees, said: “This is the second Special Olympics table tennis event I officiated and the first at national level and it is excellent. Our referees and our volunteers have contributed their skills and hearts to make this a worthwhile experience for the competitors.”
To ensure the quality of play, Special Olympics coaches participated in a seminar two months before the tournament and it paid off. “The athletes played very well and looked excellent in their uniforms which added to the professionalism of the event,” Vaskovich said.
Mikhail Borisevich, a director of a center for people with intellectual disabilities in Gorodishche, said: “Thank you to everyone who gave our students the chance to participate in a tournament for the first time in their lives. We want to participate in more Special Olympics events and to give our students a chance to participate in more sports.”
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The Special Olympics team from Gorodishche, Belarus. (Photo by Krzysztof Krukowski, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia) |
One of the highlights of the tournament was a Special Olympics Special Smiles® screening which was the first to be held at a Special Olympics Belarus event. (Special Smiles is one of the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes® disciplines which provide free health care screenings at Special Olympics events. The mission of Special Smiles is to increase access to dental care for Special Olympics athletes, as well as all people with intellectual disabilities.) All of the athletes who competed at the Table Tennis Tournament were screened.
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Referee Mikhail Vaskovich with Special Olympics table tennis player Dina. (Photo by Krzysztof Krukowski, Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia) |
"It is very important that we can do something for Special Olympics athletes because many of them need our help urgently," said Margarita Klenovskaya, who headed the screening, which included 11 volunteers. Klenovskaya is a doctor at the Medical University where the screening was held. "We want all of the Special Olympics athletes to have a beautiful smile," she said. Colgate provided the athletes with toothpaste and tooth brushes.
Special Smiles dental screenings are used as a means to increase awareness of the state of the athletes' oral health for the athletes themselves, as well as their parents and/or caregivers. The athletes are provided with hygiene education to help ensure they are doing an adequate job of brushing and flossing, as well as nutritional education to understand how their diet affects their total health. The athletes also are provided with a list of dentists/clinics in their area who will treat patients with special needs, should they have difficulty finding a dentist. The Healthy Athletes program encourages dental students, as well as practicing dentists, to conduct screenings at Special Smiles events to increase the number of dental professionals who will serve people with intellectual disabilities in their practices and clinics. It is a wonderful way to break down the barriers that too often prevent dental care professionals from working with this population.
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