A Sporting Chance
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To celebrate Leicester becoming the first city in Britain to host the National Summer Games of Special Olympics Great Britain on two occasions (1989 and 2009), Leicester City Council, Special Olympics GB and the city’s two universities have collaborated in the production of a unique book which charts the history of the Games.
Entitled A Sporting Chance: The History of Special Olympics Great Britain, this important new book of 92 pages is a full-colour record, crammed with photographs and interesting facts, covering the development of Special Olympics in Britain since 1978.
Special Olympics Great Britain is the country’s largest provider of year-round sports training and competition programme for people with learning disabilities.
The book, which will be available for £10 from libraries and selected retailers in Leicester, or from De Montfort University, also covers the start of activities and sports in the immediate post-war period in the UK for people with learning disabilities. It offers a window on how the passion of a few committed individuals has, over time, become a national movement.
The book is written by Dr Susan Barton, the Research Fellow for a two-year project which involves both Leicester and De Montfort universities, and is looking at the local and wider impact of Special Olympics Great Britain National Summer Games 2009 in Leicester.
Dr Barton has written this engaging new history of Special Olympics GB, drawing on visual, documentary and interview material from athletes and their families. The book maps the progress of the Special Olympics movement in this country, but also abroad. It is an extraordinary story of the way sport can offer opportunities for personal development and ways of increasing aspiration and changing attitudes towards people with learning disabilities.
Special Olympic GB’s Chief Executive Officer, Karen Wallin, added: “This book is a milestone for the organisation and represents the starting point of a wider research project led by both universities, which will look carefully at the Games legacy and it will help to demonstrate the impact that the Special Olympics GB programme has, not just in our learning disabled athletes, but also in their families and the wider community around them.”
John Williams, from the Sociology Department at the University of Leicester and one of the investigators on the project, said: “Special Olympics GB has its own remarkable story. This book documents the rise of the movement in a way which makes its story exciting and accessible to all audiences. From small beginnings a national project has evolved and hosting the Games in Leicester has provided a great opportunity for the local universities to work together on this research.”
Professor Richard Holt, Director of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University, said: “It has been fascinating to explore the history of Special Olympics GB and to chart its remarkable development and successes. We hope the book will inform the public and raise the profile, both locally and nationally, of athletes with learning disabilities.”
Richard Watson, Director of Cultural Services for the City Council, said: “Leicester City Council is pleased to be associated with this excellent book which will also help raise funds to support Special Olympics Leicester 2009.”
Dr Neil Carter, from De Montfort University, is the fourth member of the research team.
'A Sporting Chance' by Dr Su Barton is also available to purchase via the online shop