Special Olympics makes eagerly anticipated return to training at BVB Evonik Football Academy
A training group from Special Olympics NRW e.V. was once again invited to the BVB Evonik Football Academy as part of the "European Football Week".
Having been deprived of the annual training opportunity by corona in 2021, the participants were even more delighted to see the football training session for people with intellectual disabilities – from several institutions in the Dortmund area – take place again this year. A total of 50 disabled athletes enjoyed the training experience, which was again led by several BVB coaches. Like in previous years, the athletes had the opportunity to attend various training stations with each involving different football exercises. And, of course, club mascot EMMA was once again on hand for training tips and photograph/autograph requests.
The "European Football Week", jointly organised by Special Olympics and UEFA, aims to help people with intellectual disabilities to have more self-confidence and social participation via sport. The emphasis is on making training fun all the time, which fundamentally boosts enthusiasm for sport.
The Special Olympics training visit to BVB took place at the start of "European Football Week" and came almost exactly one year before the Special Olympics "World Games", to be held in Berlin in June 2023. Around 7,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities are expected to take part in the games. In the run-up to the Games, they can look forward to hospitable cities and municipalities across Germany providing support – organised by Special Olympics – over a period of several days.
In this context, the BVB Foundation "leuchte auf" is very happy to support its partner Special Olympics NRW e.V. with the implementation of this World Games "Host Town Program" in North Rhine-Westphalia and is pleased that the city of Dortmund has been chosen as one of the hosts in the lead-up to the international games in Berlin. More information about the "Host Town" project sponsored by "leuchte auf" will follow shortly.
You can find all the info on "leuchte auf" at:
