07/04/11
Faculty lecturer appointed vice-chair of Special Olympics Great Britain
Special Olympics Great Britain (SOGB) has appointed Jim Blair, a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences, as its new vice-chair.
SOGB, a registered charity, is the country’s largest provider of year-round sports training and competition programmes for children and adults with learning disabilities. The charity currently offers 26 different sports to more than 8,000 children and adults through a network of 135 clubs across the UK.
As well as being vice-chair of SOGB, Jim is also its Clinical Director for Health Promotion, a role which has involved him in the healthy athletes screening programme in Germany, at the GB Games in Leicester in 2009 and the European Games in Warsaw 2010. He has just set up a Health and Well Being Forum.
Jim said, “Through participation in the Special Olympics programme, athletes gain a significant sense of worth through socialising and achieving personal dreams and ambitions that cannot be easily met through other means. The healthy athletes programme ensures that people's unmet health needs are identified and a plan of action put in place with and for the athlete.”
In his new position, Jim is keen to ensure that the benefits of being involved in Special Olympics are more widely acknowledged as an essential component of a fulfilling, inclusive and active healthy life. Jim is also dedicated to assisting in growing the organisation to ensure that more people with a learning disability, their families and volunteers can be engaged in sports activities.
Find out more about Special Olympics at www.specialoylympicsgb.org.uk
