Over the weekend, a group of players attended the Dutch Special Olympics (SO) National Games which were held in Breda & Tilburg. The national games are held every other year and the GB team were invited two years ago. This weekend saw all Dutch regions represented by SO hockey clubs, with the event also welcoming countries such as Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. The tournament marked exactly a year since GBR went to Berlin as part of the GBR Special Olympics team; although the team has changed, the inclusive nature of SO remains a key driver for people with Learning Disabilities.
Players included
Craig Williamson – Beacon
Jason Nicholls – Harborne flyerz
Reece Brackpool – Harborne flyerz
Jordan Chandler – Harborne Flyerz
Rob Crosse – Wakefield
Thomas Shaw – Wakefield
Mudassar Ahmed – Forest Flyerz
Shane Crowe – Forest Flyerz (GK)
Oliver White – Tunbridge Wells
The morning started by checking that all teams were in the correct category, before finding out the team would face Belgium, Bulgaria and a regional team called Almere in their group. GB drew 3-3 vs Bulgaria, 4-4 with Almere and on Sunday produced the result of the tournament with a 4-1 win against favourites Belgium, taking the team to the gold medal play off against Belgium.
The final was a very tight game where the team unfortunately lost 2-0, despite hitting the post and creating many scoring opportunities. The players all equipped themselves incredibly well in winter like conditions (even though it was June) to come away with a silver medal.
GB Hockey is happy that we can provide these opportunities to people with learning disabilities to travel, meet other teams, players and represent not only their country but be included by their clubs on a regular basis.
Oli White from Tunbridge who had the honour of being captain had a great tournament and embraced the spirit of the Special Olympics, as well as finishing top scorer with 7 goals; other scorers were Thomas Shaw, Rob Crosse and Craig Williamson.
A huge thank you to Volunteers Jayne Crosse and Lochlann Kaye (from Wakefield Flyerz) who provided brilliant support for the squad all weekend.
