Celebrating Special Olympics Day

Special Olympics Day was celebrated at Beverley Public School on March 25, 50 days from the start of the Special Olympics Ontario Invitational Youth Games (IYG) The Toronto Police Service is the host organization and Chief Mark Saunders is the honourary chair for the first Games from May 14-17, 2019 in the city. Nearly 2,000 athletes will compete in track & field, basketball, bocce, soccer and floor hockey. In the early 1960s, a group of students at Beverley Public School were selected for University of Toronto sports scientist Dr. Frank Hayden's study on the effects of regular exercise on the fitness levels of children with an intellectual disability. His research challenged the prevailing mindset of the day – one that claimed that it was the disability itself that prevented children from fully participating in play and recreation. Through rigorous scientific method, he proved that it was simply a lack of opportunity to participate. Given that opportunity, people with an intellectual disability could acquire the necessary skills to participate in sport and become physically fit. Dr. Hayden’s proposal for a national sport competition caught the attention of Eunice Kennedy Shriver (she started Camp Shriver in 1962 that evolved into Special Olympics), serving as inspiration for the inaugural Special Olympics competition in 1968 in Chicago.