Sports for people with Down syndrome are popular in Italy

Sports for people with Down syndrome are popular in Italy

ByAConnect

Oct 25, 2023

Down syndrome, the inclusive power of sport

Sport is an exceptional tool for integration , we often hear it said and we can find clear examples in every local, international, global reality and in every discipline. The ancient Greek Olympics themselves allowed the participation of free men from all polis, and were then also opened to other peoples, such as the Romans and the Phoenicians. Returning to the present day, however, there is an area in which inclusion becomes particularly effective. On December 1, 2019, the Italian national basketball team for athletes with Down syndrome won the world championships in Portugal for the second consecutive year. These “special” championships , more correctly defined as “games”, are competitions with rules and conditions completely similar to those held for people without disabilities.

Sport is an exceptional tool for integration , we often hear it said and we can find clear examples in every local, international, global reality and in every discipline. The ancient Greek Olympics themselves allowed the participation of free men from all polis, and were then also opened to other peoples, such as the Romans and the Phoenicians. Returning to the present day, however, there is an area in which inclusion becomes particularly effective. On December 1, 2019, the Italian national basketball team for athletes with Down syndrome won the world championships in Portugal for the second consecutive year. These “special” championships , more correctly defined as “games”, are competitions with rules and conditions completely similar to those held for people without disabilities.

Italian national basketball team for athletes with Down syndrome wins the gold medal in Portugal (December 2019)

As regards the Special Olympics , the fundamental criterion for being selected concerns the degree of autonomy of the athletes , explains Martina Crivellaro who is the president of the Sport21 association , because “the best ones don’t necessarily leave, from a performance point of view sport, but the autonomy of the boy is also evaluated, because he has to be alone in retreat with the team, without his parents”. Martina Crivellaro knows this well, as last March she supported her son, Giacomo Bacelle , during the Special Olympics gymnastics, from the stands. Giacomo won the gold medal, and for him it was an immense emotion that made him feel like his favorite sports figure, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Veronica Paccagnella and Giacomo Bacelle, gold medals at the Special Olympics in Abu Dhabi (March 2019)

Autonomy is therefore a fundamental requirement, inside and outside of competition, but for girls and boys with Down syndrome it is something to be gained step by step, with the help of professionals, such as the educators and psychologists of the of Padua. 

Interview with Martina Crivellaro and Giacomo Drago on the inclusive power of sport. Filming and editing by Elisa Speronello

With the kids of the association, says Giacomo Drago , a mountaineering project that includes excursions in the mountains, Montagnamo , has been active for six years . The mountain environment is educational in itself, because it also allows you to develop respect for the environment and for others. Projects of this type focus on collaboration, doing it together, sharing and supporting each other.

Nine climbers with Down syndrome on the slopes of Etna (Montagnamo project, September 2019)

Last summer Giacomo accompanied nine boys to the mouths of Etna in Sicily, completing a route that was not easy even for trained mountaineers. A testimony of tenacity, resistance, passion, collaboration and spirit of adventure and of all the skills acquired over years of independence .

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