Ferdinand Bibby

I have been involved with Special Olympics Trinidad and Tobago (SOTT) for over twenty-eight (28) years and has served athletes in Special Olympics at all levels.

I started as a regular volunteer assisting in the sport of football but soon began coaching the sports of Football and Floor Hockey. My transition to coaching Special Olympics athletes was made easy due to the enthusiasm and general willingness to train exhibited by the athletes. I coached both sports locally as well as at the International Games level, guiding SOTT teams to gold and silver medals in Football and bronze in Floor Hockey between 1999 and 2009.

In 2003 I was elevated to Sports Director of SOTT and was successful in improving the SOTT training and coaching environment. As part of a dedicated team of volunteer coaches I was able to harness the commitment of the coaches, who exemplifies the meaning of volunteerism, to focus on the development and the provision of additional training and competition opportunities for our athletes.

Since 2009, I have been serving as National Director. My tenure has been dedicated to raising the awareness of the Special Olympics movement locally, encouraging greater acceptance for our athletes and providing them with greater access to achieve their goals and potentials as athletes in the local sporting environment.

I am certified by Special Olympics International to train and certify coaches in Coaching Special Olympics Athletes, Principles of Coaching, Unified Sports and other Special Olympics sports specific programmes. I have also been trained in developing persons with disabilities in Athlete Leadership.

It was a pleasure to have driven the idea of beach games to life in the Caribbean when SOTT’s Technical Committee staged its first “Seaside Games” in 2016. The Seaside Games has provided beach sports as an option to increase the sporting opportunities offered to athletes with intellectual disabilities and served to educate the members of the public about persons with intellectual disabilities.

My latest area of focus is developing the SOTT’s Athlete Leadership Programme and developing a cadre of athlete leaders to assume meaningful leadership positions locally.