In March Mark competed in the Men's Singles and Doubles in Manchester. He won a gold medal in both - a great acheivement for his first event in this sport.
Seven athletes from our Group represented the North West at this year’s Special Olympic Games in Leicester: five played 5-a-side football, one was in the 11-a-side football team and one played boccia. The Games began with a spectacular opening ceremony at the Walker Stadium, home of Leicester City FC, and included a parade of all the competitors. The following day classification matches began so that the competitors in each of the sports could be ‘banded’ into groups with other athletes of a similar ability level. In the team events this was based on the ability of the best player. Unfortunately this resulted in our 5-a-side team competing against other teams of higher ability. This, together with a number of injuries including a broken leg during classification, meant that they lost all their matches and came 6th in their group. Damian (pictured) won a gold medal with the 11-a-side team in the junior group. Mark played boccia and won a silver medal in the team competition. Boccia is similar to boules and is one of the events in the Paralympics, played by people with cerebral palsy. All the athletes really enjoyed the whole experience of attending this prestigious event and made new friends.