Special Needs Football

The club is working with Lizzy Lynch of Special Olympics Ireland in progressing the development of our special needs football programme during the year. We currently have one full squad going, playing in the regular day-long blitzes, and are catering for fifteen or so players in the current season. Players will be eligible if they have a learning disability which can be verified by a psychologist's report. Vice-Chairman Jim Allen, who is driving this much-needed initiative, says that "we do need YOUR help to keep this worthy initiative going so that we can cater for these currently unrepresented footballers from within our local community". Jim advises that we will need to match the number of footballers with approximately the same number of volunteer helpers. We'd be delighted if you would give Jim a call on 086 063 0605 if you can provide some assistance, no matter how small.

The volunteers would be helping out in the same way as those who help with the Cubs and Kittens on Saturday mornings. They would also accompany the teams to the regular monthly Dublin region 5-a-side blitzes, where they will see the real fruits of their contributions.

Last year, there was a very successful full special needs section in our annual summer extravaganza, our Mini World Cup (MWC'08), held in June (that's when we had a bit of sun). This is, of course an open event, so many non club members and other clubs also joined in the fun.

The season proper begins in line with our usual season (August/September) and matches are often played on artificial surfaces such as those in the Loughlinstown Leisure Centre.

The players and teams are organised by ability, rather than purely age, using a process called "divisioning". This could mean having a 12-year-old playing on the same side as a 15-year-old or 18-year-old of the same ability. This is one area among many in which we will need to rely on the Special Olympics' expertise in order to successfully get our initiative up and running.

Already the club has established a sub-committee of the executive to help get the initiative going. These include: Clubhouse Manager/Safety Officer, Eion Dowling; Sports Officer, Dave Mooney; Athlete Protection Officer, Frank Keenaghan and Volunteer Officer, Jim Allen. Others will be appointed to help, as required.

Now is the time for YOU to pick up that phone and call Jim on 086 063 0605 so that we may get this uniquely worthy initiative under way. Your assistance will be really appreciated.