Special Olympics
Community is much more important than victory
On Thursday (March 14), the national Special Olympics Games will open in Styria. 1100 athletes, 400 coaches and 600 volunteers will be taking part until March 18 in Graz, Seiersberg, Ramsau and Schladming. Ten sports are on the program and the motto is: "Together without borders". We joined the athletes for a floorball session in the run-up to the event.
Four teams compete in this training tournament at the Raiffeisen Sportpark in Graz. For me as "Krone" editor, floorball is completely new territory. My "blue team" is led by Special Olympics athletes Daniel (the goalie), Li and Walter, with coach Heribert, Magdalena and student Oliver as unified partners.
I have the referees Leo and Thomas explain to me that the pitch is 14 by 28 meters and is surrounded by 50-centimetre-high boards. They also give me a crash course in the rules: The ball must be played below the knee, the racket shovel should generally remain below the hip, hard body contact is not allowed, the ball may also be played with the foot.
After just a few seconds, I find out for myself that floorball is the fastest team sport in the world (the ball reaches speeds of around 200 km/h in professional games). It's unbelievable how high the speed is, how much you have to run.
"What I like most is the community"
During a changeover break, I ask Walter what he likes about playing floorball. "The fighting, scoring goals - I love playing as a striker. But what I like most about it is the community." And that's exactly what you can feel every second: nothing is given away on the floor, but there is no nastiness, fairness and togetherness are always the focus. Everyone treats each other as equals and with full respect.
Walter, who also enjoys playing soccer and has reading and television as hobbies, is of course also involved in the national games. "That's what we often train for," he says happily.
Unlike the Special Olympics athlete, I am denied a goal celebration - two shots on goal are the "meagre yield". But what was most important on this day was the fact that hardly anyone could say the final score after each match. Because it simply didn't matter. As the motto of the National Games goes: "Together without borders"...
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