SPECIAL Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) got a significant boost recently when the Canadian Women’s Club of Jamaica donated equipment and gear toward the development of their swimming programme.

The presentation was done by Barbara Matalon, the president of the Canadian Women’s Club, to the swimmers at the University of Technology.

SOJ received items such as stopwatches, kick boards, swimsuits and vests, as well as armbands and goggles.

Matalon said it was “a pleasure giving the equipment to the programme” and assured that her club is looking forward to contributing more to SOJ.

Jamaica’s athletes are preparing for the Special Olympics 2015 World Summer Games to be staged in Los Angeles, United States from July 25 to August 2.

Aquatic sports are among the disciplines that SOJ will compete in at the Games and expectations are high that the swimmers will excel.

They are also set to participate in athletics, badminton, basketball, female futsal, football, volleyball and bocce.

Jamaica attracted global recognition due to historic achievements at the World Winter Games in the Republic of Korea two years ago.

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

The Special Olympic International movement targets the breaking down of barriers that exclude people with intellectual disabilities from mainstream society.

These disabilities can either be acquired or genetic and can include cases of autism, cerebral palsy and traumatic brain injury.

— Sanjay Myers