St. Tammany News

Is there a potential Special Olympian in your home, an intellectually disabled child or adult who could benefit from physical activity, the discipline of training and the joy of competition and challenges well met?

Northshore Families Helping Families, a nonprofit resource center for families with disabled members, wants everyone to know that participation in Special Olympics isn't only open to residents of big, faraway cities. People from St. Tammany, Washington and all the Florida Parishes are eligible. The state Special Olympics office in Hammond is conducting an outreach, and NFHF is partnering in the push to bring the organization and all it offers to the Northshore of Lake Pontchartrain. An informational meeting will be held at First Baptist Church in Covington from 10 a.m. to noon Feb. 20.

Charlie Courville, outreach director for Special Olympics Louisiana, who will speak at the meeting, encourages everyone interested in participating or volunteering assistance to attend.

"We're in the process of trying to bring in basketball leagues, bowling leagues and maybe clinics," he said. "And there's talk of a summer camp."

The mission of Special Olympics Louisiana is "to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for intellectually disabled children and adults, 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 Olympic athletes and the community."

Special Olympics competition is open to people from "8 to 99" years of age, but potential athletes don't have to wait. The Young Athletes Program is designed for children 2 through 7 years of age, said Courville.

"A lot of parents are looking for something for their kids," he said.

The benefits of participation go way beyond physical fitness, said Courville.

"For our athletes, it can help with self esteem," he said. "They make new friends. It gives them the opportunity that all others have and can take for granted as far as competing. We can go into a gymnasium and say we want to compete, and there are a lot of programs available. But the disabled don't have the same events and activities and opportunities. With Special Olympics, if they like sports, instead of just watching on television they have the opportunity to compete. That's probably one of the biggest things."

It also gives the athletes the opportunity to make contacts and to show the greater community who they are and what they are capable of doing, said Courville.

"It lets people see our athletes in a different light," he said. "They are not mistakes of nature. They laugh and cry and get excited like everybody else."

Some might like to run or jump or win.

Local participants could even end up in the international competitions, said Courville.

"Our athletes can excel," he said. "A lot compete at high levels. We had one from Livingston Parish who went to (the Special Olympics World Games in) Shanghai, China last year, and 180 who went to Ames, Iowa to compete to go to Shanghai. Some of them made it."

Volunteers can help provide opportunities that can change lives.

"If you want to serve the community in a way that combines sports and giving back, this is it," said Courville. "We encourage colleges, high schools, anybody who needs service hours to get involved."

The Special Olympics move to the Northshore is in its organizational stages, and there are a lot of opportunities for involvement.

"We're trying to form an area management team that would use Special Olympics as consultants," said Courville. "People are very, very excited. I think getting volunteers and athletes to join will not be a big task."

Right now, the partnership is considering using a bowling alley and a "recreational facility" in St. Tammany Parish for its programs. But participants from throughout the Florida Parishes are welcome, and if a group wants to start something up at a different location, including one in a different parish, it is encouraged to attend the meeting and talk with Courville or to contact him at (800) 345-6644.

To reserve a seat at the meeting or for additional information, call NFHF at 875-0511 or email nfhf@bellsouth.net.

The church is located at 16333 Louisiana Highway 1085 in Covington.