SIX YEARS AGO this summer Ireland hosted the Special Olympics, and families and communities all over the country made lasting connections.
The tradition continues to grow, judging by this letter from Hailey Zanes, a teenager from Idaho, who hosted a member of the Irish ski team, Charlie O’Reilly from Sandycove, during the Winter Olympics in Boise last February. Hailey is coming to Ireland this summer for a 10-day visit with the O’Reilly family; it would appear that Zanes and the O’Reillys have become friends for life.
Hailey’s letter is addressed to Chip Fisher, chairman of the Winter Olympics, and the letter was sent to us by Special Olympics Ireland to highlight the two-way benefits of hosting either an athlete or an athlete’s family.
The next World Special Olympics will be held in Greece in 2010, and the next Special Olympics Ireland games are scheduled for Limerick in June, 2010. Some 2,000 athletes will be involved and 3,500 volunteers will be needed. But of course volunteers are needed all year round, running the clubs, helping with training, driving the athletes to and from sessions and doing whatever it is that is required at local club level. Volunteers are the backbone of the organisation.
To find out more about how Special Olympics Ireland works, see www.specialolympics.ie. Meanwhile, here’s a letter from a teenager who clearly learned from the experience of opening her home, heart and mind to an Irish Olympian.
June 25, 2009
Dear Mr Fisher,
Last February, the Special Olympics came to my town, Sun Valley. I did not know what to expect ... and then the athletes arrived. My family was fortunate to host two athletes from the Irish ski team, Ryan Hill and Charlie O’Reilly, as well as their team delegate, Tony McGuinness. The magic began the first night they stayed with us. These guys were so full of love and laughter and positive attitude and gratitude. I will be in my final year next year at the Community School in Sun Val1ey, where I have been a student since first grade. I am involved in all sorts of activities at school as well as in our community, but the Olympics were, well, “special” on so very many levels. I became totally involved ... from helping to organise a disco for the athletes at our school, to taking a day off from school to ski with the Irish team, to awarding athletes their medals, to attending both the opening and closing ceremonies in Boise. Meeting athletes from all over the world was an experience I will never forget.
In August, I am going to lreland to visit Charlie O’Reilly and his family. Isn’t that cool? From the minute Charlie walked into our home last winter for his four-night stay in our house, well ... I guess I fell in love. He is the most incredible, lovable, funny, adorable 13-year-old boy I have ever met. I am going to go visit him and experience his world as he did mine and I cannot wait. I met Charlie’s parents at the opening and closing ceremonies and they invited me to visit them in Ireland ... the Special Olympics experience was for me, a life-changing one. It opened up a world to me of people who overcome their challenges and thrive.
Sincerely, Hailey Zanes