SPECIAL OLYMPICS GB

Special Olympics provides sports training and athletic competition in over 20 different sports, for children and adults with a learning disability.

 SOGB comprises of 12 regions, with over 100 registered groups throughout England, Scotland & Wales. It has one of the largest volunteer programmes in the UK, with over 1/2 million people involved.
Celtic Park, Glasgow
2005 National Summer Games
     
Each region comprises of a number of clubs. Some clubs may just focus on one sport and others will cover a number of different sports. At National level the athletes will come together to represent their Region. At International level, the athletes will represent Great Britain.
   
Football is just one of 20 core sports that Special Olympics GB provides for its members. SOGB endeavours to match players of similiar abilities for all events and competitions. This way everyone is able to train, compete, progress and win at their own level. SOGB Football is played at both 5-a-side an 11-a-side.

At club level, players will take part in training, localised or regional tournaments and festivals.

Players may then go on to represent their Region in the Special Olympics National Summer Games and then for Great Britain in the World Games. These two events take place every four years.
Bronze Medal - Gasgow '05
Yorks & Humberside Squad
                   
 Contact:  Karen Wallin (SOGB Operations Manager)
 Address:  Special Olympics GB,
 Corinthian House, 1st Floor, 6–8 Great Eastern Street
 London EC2A 3NT
 Tel:  020 7247 8891
 E-Mail:  karen.wallin@sogb.org.uk
 Web Site :  www.specialolympicsgb.org
 
                   
Regional Squads
Players must have completed at least 26 weeks of training before they are eligible to represent their region in the National summer games.

Great Britain Squads
To be eligible for the GB squad in the Special Olympic World Games, players must have taken part in the National Summer Games. The World Games in Shanghai (Oct 2007) saw 155 Great Britain athetes compete against a staggering 7,000 others from 160 different countries. Great Britain took three teams; an 11-a-side Male team (Gold medal), a 5-a-side male team (4th place) and a 5-a-side female team (Gold medal).

  

110,000 people packed the Shanghai National Stadium for the opening ceremony of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games.

Millions of television and internet viewers around the world saw President Hu Jintao of China officially open the games. Guests of honour at the opening were SO founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan and Quincy Jones.

 

  

110,000 people packed Shanghai's National Stadium for the opening ceremony of the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games
    
                       
 
SOGB Female 5's 		 

SOGB Male 5's

SOGB Male 11's
   


HOW DO I GET INVOLVED?

Footballers:
The regional contacts will put you in touch with your nearest club.
Clubs:
Special Olympic club starter packs are available from the SOGB national office. Affilliation is relativeley straight forward but clubs are expected to adopt certain codes of conduct and policies.

Established clubs and organisations are more than likeley to already have these in place. Your region Special Olympics group will be able to offer further help and support.

  

Click on the link below to view the regions and their contacts details
 

 

This site is designed and maintained by Mark Summers