AS Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) continues preparation for the 2015 World Summer Games in the United States, the seventh staging of the annual football competition will roll off this Saturday at University of Technology (UTech) playing field, beginning at 9:00 am.

Standout Reggae Girlz defender Sherona Forrester will be the guest speaker at the launch, also to be held at UTech.

Aside from Hanover, all parishes are expected to participate in Under-15, Over-15 and Unified Football competitions.

The feature match will be the encounter between a Scotiabank Business House outfit and the SOJ Unified Football team.

The inclusive Unified Sports programme brings together athletes with intellectual disabilities and individuals without these disabilities as teammates for training and competition.

SOJ executive director Lorna Bell said suspected cases of the chikungunya virus have limited the extent of the attraction this season, but she is still expecting over 200 athletes to attend the competition at UTech.

“CHIK-V has definitely affected us and so we will not be offering skills (segment) this year. We have made it very clear to the parishes not to take any athlete who has, or is recovering from CHIK-V. Still, we are expecting approximately 245 athletes to be in attendance,” she said.

Jamaica’s Unified Football team was the only one from the Caribbean to be invited to the first Special Olympics World Cup in Malaysia. Originally set to be held this month, it has been postponed due to concerns over the country’s readiness to host the tournament.

However, in partnership with Digicel, Scotiabank and local football club Santos, the Jamaican Unified team is set to feature at the World Summer Games slated for Los Angeles next year from July 25 to August 2.

An all-female side will compete in futsal. Both these events are a first for Jamaica.

The island enjoyed big success at the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Pyeongchang, Republic of Korea.

Jamaica won silver medals in two ice figure-skating categories to go with their second-place finish in floor hockey at the eight-day Championship.

Special Olympics empowers people with intellectual disabilities, promoting acceptance for all, and fostering communities of understanding and respect across the world.

Down’s Syndrome, autism, traumatic brain injury and cerebral palsy are some of the disabilities that these athletes are faced with.

–Sanjay Myers