2009 Special Olympics Australia National Conference

The 2009 Special Olympics Australia (SOA) National Conference, themed Let’s Grow Together, was held on the 2nd and 3rd of April.  Jack Bahng, John Goo, Sue Teale, Ivy Tang, Paul Phelan, Ian Hyman and I travelled to my hometown Adelaide for the conference.  Arriving on Friday, we had the opportunity to visit venues for the 2010 national Games also being held in Adelaide.  The strong themes from the conference revolved around a focus on our athletes, growth in our program through positive change and quality sports competition and the 2010 National Games.

Some excellent speakers and presentations and the induction of Rex langthorne into the hall of Fame highlighted the event.  Mark Streeting was elected as Chairman of SOA with the retirement of Rex from that role.  Rex will continue to be involved at board level.  On behalf of our region I congratulate Rex on an amazing contribution to Special Olympics Australia - in leading a transformation that positions the organisation for continued growth for the betterment of our athletes.  I also congratulate Mark on his appointment and look forward to his leadership during and exciting and challenging new phase for SOA.

The power and spirit of the athlete’s oath permeated through the event.  “Let me win, but if I cannot win then let me be brave in the attempt”.

Within our region we will take time to reflect on the learning’s from the event and how they can be applied to continue to develop our program - asking the question of ourselves “How do we make the experience better for athletes?”  We were all challenged with this question by Ryan Murphy, Senior Manager of Sports and Competition, SOI.  Training of our athletes, coaches and volunteers, I believe, is key to our ongoing success in addressing this question.

Highlights:

• “As an athlete, the biggest point that I can make is that we want to be treated as athletes, not as people with disabilities” - Ben haack during The Great Debate - Do we grow as a sports organisation or a disability program?  The debate was declared a draw but I think that the power of sport in changing lives came through prettly strongly with many stories across the weekend.
• “Don’t round up the ants while the elephants get away.” - Mark Haysman, CEO Port Adelaide Football Club.  Mark also talked about the importance of being realistic - a point very relevant to planning for the National Games given the current economic climate.  Through strong leadershipand communication across the organisation the decision was made to reduce the quota for the number of athletes attending the games.  This was a hard decision based on a need to reduce the cost and risk to SOA and one which recognises that providing a quality sports experience for the 70% who can’t attend the games is paramount.
• Katrina Webb, Paralympics Gold Medalist, gave an inspirational speech on her life and achievements, on being realistic, setting goals and a vision of where you are going, creating a plan or roadmap to get there, measuring your progress to keep you on track and finally surrounding yourself with positive people who support you.
• Whilst there was a strong focus on growth, the speakers also highlighted the importance to be careful t work on strengths in achieving that growth.
• Interesting fact - 109 SO athletes achieved times better than the slowest time recorded at the Beijing Olympics.  47 could have represented their country where their country did not have a representative in the event.
• The Hon Kate Ellis MP, Minister for Sport, acknowledged the hard work and commitment of SO volunteers and recognised the heart of SO through a story of the power of how SO enriches the lives of athletes, their families and carers.
• Freddie Brincat talked of making positive change to behaviour - ask us about the Power Competition for indigineous kids.
• Dr Caroline Ellison talked about positive behaviour support and the importance of understanding before reacting.
• Jim Maxwell shared some great cricket stories and Mike Goodacre provided plenty of laughs as MC.

The presentations will be made available to all regions in the next week.  Please advise if you would like a copy of any of them.

Greg Simmons