A Tockwith coach is hoping to lead the Great Britain football team to success at the Special Olympic Summer Games in Greece later this month.
Mark Summers, 46, is hoping to use his 15 years of experience coaching learning disabled football to inspire the Great Britain 11-a-side team to the gold medal.
“I started coaching with Harrogate Gateway Football Club, which is affiliated with the Special Olympics, 15 years ago,” he said. “This led on to working with the Yorkshire and Humberside Special Olympics training, which in turn allowed me to travel to the 2007 Special Olympics Summer Games in Glasgow with the Great Britain squad. I never played professionally, but I thoroughly enjoy the coaching, and it is such a rewarding experience.”
Great Britain are represented in all four of the football competitions at the games: men’s 11-a-side, men’s five-a-side, mixed seven-a-side and women’s five-a-side.
“Our competition is only a small part of the Games as a whole,” said Summers. “There are more than 7,000 athletes taking part from almost 190 nations, so we are really looking to get the most out of this incredible experience.”
Summers has just returned from Switzerland, where he was coaching the England team at the MENCAP Learning Disabled European Football Championships, and leaves for Greece this weekend with the rest of the Great Britain party.
“The GB team will do very well; they are a great group of lads who have gelled together really well.
“I would be very surprised if we weren’t among the medals at the end.”
Also representing North Yorkshire at the event is Lynn Williams, from Bilton, who is competing in the powerlifting.
The Special Olympics Great Britain programme was established more than 30 years ago and now has nearly 8,000 athletes in 135 clubs, which is run by a group of more than 2,800 volunteers.
The Games run from June 25 to July 4. There are 22 sports at the event, including basketball, cycling, softball, tennis and athletics.
For more information on Special Olympics in Great Britain, log on to www.specialolympicsgb.org.uk
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