This past week, some colleagues and I had the opportunity to take some of our students to the Special Olympics high school provincial games. Special Olympics events are unique in the world of sport. A lot can be said about equity, inclusion, representation, and voice.
These are students for whom exclusion is a well known commodity, a cognizance of difference is present, opportunities for inclusion are generally more limited, and voice is almost entirely absent.
But the experience of a thing like this flips the script for a brief, special moment in their lives. At the risk of sounding cheesy, or of indulging in cliché, the benefits are in the unquantifiable, in the glimmer in their eyes, the joy in their celebrations, the smile on their faces, the agony in their defeats, and their place in spaces of acceptance. There is some sought after normalcy in ceremony and celebration, in effort and inclusion, and as coaches and educators, upon reflection, maybe there are few things we do that are better than this.
#braveintheattempt Special Olympics Special Olympics Ontario
