PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad and Tobago — Special Olympics Trinidad and Tobago (SOTT) Chairman David Benjamin says the country is proud to be “trailblazers” after hosting the first-ever Special Olympics Caribbean Beach Games.

The event is the brainchild of former SOTT athlete Kester Edwards, who is a sports and development manager at Special Olympics International.

Over the course of three days, between November 8 and 10, Special Olympics athletes from across the region participated in aquathlon, beach football, beach cricket, beach volleyball, beach bocce, and open-water swimming.

The beach games offered the opportunity for athletes with intellectual disabilities to showcase their skills, compete against their peers, and build region-wide relationships.

“This is a… crescendo of bringing all the plans together, that vision which Kester Edwards created [a long time] ago,” Benjamin told the Jamaica Observer.

“We are happy to be trailblazers and happy that it starts right here in the Caribbean. And, we’re going to write the template for this and make sure it can be exported and that other programmes can use local talent and local resources to showcase our Special Olympics Caribbean Beach Games,” said the SOTT board chairman.

Edwards, a Special Olympics International board representative, was on hand to see his dream come to fruition.

“It’s wonderful to see this come together. It has taken hard work and effort from everyone,” he said.

“I was basically looking at what the Olympics was doing and decided to put a proposal together. I took it to my boss that I’d like to pilot the beach games and, here we are.

“I’m very happy, [and] the work that [Special Olympics Caribbean Initiative Executive Director] Lorna Bell has been doing for the region is great to see. We have the countries coming together and getting the opportunity to do something different on the beach,” Edwards told the Observer.

The beach games and related activities were hosted at venues in both the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and attracted approximately 130 athletes, 70 coaches, and scores of volunteers.

Aside from the sporting action on the beach, organisers scheduled healthy athletes’ screening, a family health forum, and a Caribbean Initiative Family Engagement Workshop.

Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Sport Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis also announced her Government is set to sign the Special Olympics global leadership coalition for inclusion.

The global leadership coalition fosters increased collaboration at the policy level, with the aim of improving the lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

Jamaica, through its Ministry of Sport, signed the global leadership coalition in January.