Children with mental disabilities do not get the same opportunities to enjoy the benefits of sports and exercise as other children. Especially during times of financial crisis, it is even more difficult for public “Special Schools” in Greece to deal with such important issues.
OLYMPIACOS FC started the project “Together in Life – Together in Olympiacos!” to tackle this issue by giving the opportunity to selected children, students of two “Special Schools” in the area of Piraeus, to experience football training and matches as OLYMPIACOS Academy athletes. It is an on-going project that started in 2016.
The basic objectives of the project are:
• To provide to children with mental disability the opportunity to train and learn their sport of choice with the best possible conditions, under professional and responsible supervision and guidance.
• To boost the self-esteem and communication skills of our Special athletes and assist their parents in the process of social integration.
• To engage the athletes and staff of OLYMPIACOS FC Academy into creating long-term relationships with our Special athletes and promote the notions of Anti-Discrimination, Social Intergration, Education, and Health & Physical Ability.
The team “Together in Life – Together in Olympiacos” trains twice per week in OLYMPIACOS FC Training Centre, under the supervision of two coaches who hold a degree in Special Education and with the full support of the Academy’s technical and medical personnel.
The team also competes in friendly matches, which are held for mixed teams (teams comprised of players with mental disabilities and players who do not have mental disabilities), with the collaboration of the Academy’s U16 group.
More specifically, the mixed team competes in friendly matches against OLYMPIACOS Soccer Schools as well as in the Special Olympics Football Week for “UNIFIED” matches which was held in OLYMPIACOS FC Training Center in the last two years.
*ECA Club Management Program members attending the training session of OLYMPIACOS FC special team for children with mental disabilities “Together in Life – Together in Olympiacos”, in our training Centre, in October 2018.
