SCHWETZINGEN, Germany — Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) Executive Director Coleridge “Roy” Howell is praising the input of Lions Club International as central to a “successful” host town engagement on Wednesday.

The Jamaican delegation was welcomed by the residents of Schwetzingen, which is located about 25 kilometres south-west of Heidelberg where the athletes have been staying before their expected departure to Berlin on Thursday for Saturday’s start of the 2023 World Summer Games.

During the day’s activities, the SOJ athletes played their part in the symbolically significant Special Olympics Torch Run through parts of central Schwetzingen and were exposed to German food and customs.

Their first stop was lunch with Schwetzingen Mayor René Pöltl which was hosted by the Lions Club, a globally recognised philanthropic organisation with a long-standing relationship with the Special Olympics movement.

“It was wonderful, and I have to say, a really successful event. Lions Club has been a great organisation internationally and locally and a major partner for Special Olympics. This is a big welcome, bigger than I expected from them.

“This was really good for the team, to help to relax the athletes while they are in preparation mode for the Games. I didn’t envisage such a large welcome and they have expressed their continued support for us throughout the Games and beyond that,” Howell said.

Dr Wolfgang Klein, president of the men’s Lions Club in Schwetzingen, said a key part of their involvement is to help to push awareness about people with intellectual disabilities.

“It’s a great honour for Lions to have Jamaica for the host town programme in Schwetzingen. We welcome the Jamaican sports people here, it’s great to incorporate the Special Olympics here in this city because not everyone knows about intellectual disabilities. But this is what we stand for, Lions Club stands for all people in the world,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

Andrea Baisch, vice-president of the women’s Lions Club in Schwetzingen, echoed those sentiments, highlighting that the organisation remains committed to foster “inclusion” around the world through philanthropic service.

The Jamaican contingent, comprising 47 athletes, is down to compete in athletics, women’s football (seven-a-side), men’s unified football (seven-a-side), swimming, badminton and unified volleyball.

Through sport activities and competition, the Special Olympics movement aims to break down barriers that exclude people with intellectual disabilities, such as autism and Down syndrome, from mainstream society.

The disabilities can either be acquired or genetic and can also include cases of cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, and some cases of developmental delay.

The unified sports programme, a focus of the Special Olympics movement, combines people with intellectual disabilities and those without disabilities in training and competition.