Today more than 400 athletes from around Samoa will take to the field at Apia Park to compete at this year’s Special Olympics National Games.
In preparation to compete, athletes from both Upolu and Savaii filled the Pesega College Compound last Saturday for health checks.
In an interview with the Samoa Observer, S.O. Samoa C.E.O., Tusitina Nu’uvali, said that health was one of the most important aspects to the Games.
“It’s important for us to make sure that next week during the sporting events, every athlete is in a sport that is safe and suitable for their health,” she said.
“My sports team has gone through everything and the recommendations from doctors will help us plan which game they can compete in.”
She also said the medical screening was not only beneficial to the athletes, but for their parents as well.
“It gives them an understanding of the disability and how to really cope with their children,” she said.
Ms. Nu’uvali said another important aspect to the health checks was so that doctors could identify which athletes do or do not have an intellectual disability, so they could be categorised within the Samoa S.O.’s own classification system.
Whether they do or not, as the National Games is being run on a grassroots level, Ms. Nu’uvali said that they were not rejecting anyone from competing.
However, she said this part of the check up was important, because if it was in Special Olympics event overseas, they could not take anyone without an intellectual disability and only doctors can identify that.
The Medical Outreach Team is in charge of the health checks and its leader Dr. Tanyamarie Petaia said the majority of the athletes are fit for competition.
“It’s a chance for these children to be treated for free and have their medications provided,” said Dr. Petaia.
“Today, everything is done for them for free.
“The majority of these cases (is that) they’ve never actually been through a complete medical check.”
Dr. Petaia said in regards to checking their level of intellectual disability, her team has had to remove some of the athletes off the list.
“We’ve been screening them and found out that some of the children are now ineligible for any sport,” she said.
“Some of them are even recommended to change their sports to fit their conditions.”
Ms. Nu’uvali said she wanted to thank Digicel Samoa for their continuous support.
“We are very grateful for Digicel’s medical outreach program that they are now giving to us to screen the athletes before the Games,” said Ms. Nu’uvali.
“This day wouldn’t be possible without them.”
The National Games are where the athletes will vie for a chance to represent Samoa at the World Games to be held in Las Angeles next year.