This week, from 19^th to 23^rd May, an international delegation from the East Asian region of Special Olympics International has been in Mongolia to train sports coaches and school teachers on how to teach sport to people with disabilities.

The specialist trainers from China and Taiwan were invited by the Special Olympics Mongolia program especially to train the first ever official Mongolian Special Olympics Coaches. The training was sponsored by Special Olympics Mongolia and the Laureus Fund. The teachers and sports coaches who attended the three day training have now received certification to train people with disabilities to participate in Olympics type sports.

The training involved teachers from the special education schools based in Ulaanbaatar including school numbers 25, 55, 63 and 70, and kindergarten 186 as well as teachers and coaches from Tsetserleg sum, Arkhangai. Parents of people with disabilities were also involved in the training and were invited to join the Special Olympics “Family Support Network”, which is a network of help, guidance and support for families of people with disabilities that spans the globe.

Mongolia will hold its first ever National Special Olympics Games this autumn by using the training given to the newly qualified coaches. The Games will involve athletes with intellectual disabilities, who will compete in Olympic type sports including judo, table tennis, athletics, basketball and volleyball. The winners of the National Games will have the chance to progress to the World Special Olympics Summer Games, to be hosted in Los Angeles, USA, in 2015. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has confirmed that medalists from the Special Olympics World Games will receive financial benefits similar to Olympic and World Champion medalists.