Athlete Leadership 2019 - 2020

This year, Ashwin from our Mens squad is working towards his Bronze ALPS award. Ashwin is a valued member of the Killester Special Olympics family and has chosen to give back to his team and fellow athletes while he undertakes personal development tasks in the areas of Ambassadorial, Volunteering and Committee roles. 

As part of his development in a volunteer role, Ashwin will be volunteering with the Ladies team for the season, assisting the coaches in setting up equipment and drills. Coaches Marcella, Brian and Chris are delighted to have him on board and are looking forward to assisting him in his athlete leadership development.



New Year Update: My Trip to India
by Ashwin
I travelled to India for Christmas and stayed for 4 weeks with all family members and had a great festive time, my FIRST Christmas in India.
I flew by Etihad airways, Dublin to Abu Dhabi to Kochi [cochin]
Kochi is a coastal city in Kerala state {county] in the southern part of India
We travelled to Pala [Kottayam district] which is 2 hour drive from Kochi airport and my mother’s native place rich in rubber, pepper, coffee, mango, betel nuts and other agriculture crops.
During my stay I attended a church festival, carol service and went house to house with the choir. It was a good family time and being around loads of people was a good experience. Also ate lot of Indian food.
I also visited a nearby dam used for irrigation purpose as well as to produce electricity which was a good educational tour. [Due to the recent floods in the county a lot of check dams have been made]


​
From Pala I travelled by bus to Trichur where my father’s sister and family lives. Trichur is known for sacred sights and colourful festivals and during my stay I saw the city decorated with Christmas lights which was really beautiful stars, trees and rows and rows of multi coloured lights.
Onwards I travelled by train north to Calicut, my father’s native place Calicut is a coastal city with beautiful beaches and a city made by Gulf money sent by people who are working in the Gulf counties
I had good time with all family members attended carol service ate a lot of Indian food and had very good memorable moments.
Being my first Christmas in India and to make it more special I had taken a Christmas tree, decorations, festive lights along with my baggage from Dublin which along with my grandmother put up the special tree and on Christmas day had a special moment of opening presents and sharing the joy with the whole family.

Athlete Leadership Forum 2019 Update
Crowne Plaza, Blanchardstown
November 9th, 2019
by Ashwin
I attended the Alps for the first time through Killester Special Olympics Basketball Club.
The event was in CROWNE PLAZA.
When I came into Crowne Plaza I got a t shirt and a name tag.

First there was an Introduction to tell us what is Alp’s.
Then we got spilt into two groups, I was in the red group. I knew some people before but others I haven’t , but I got along with them.
 
​We did all about social media about internet safety, not to add strangers and not cyber bully people. I knew a lot about social media from school at the same time I learned a bit more about social media from the session.
Next we did about public speaking. I really didn’t do much public speaking before so I was a bit nervous, but I got more confident about public speaking. We played games to know each other, we were talking to each other and we had to introduce ourselfs. I learned few key points of public speaking like eye contact, voice, smile, gestures.

Then we had lunch my favourite! I had chicken goujons, sausage’s and sandwiches. It was so good.

After our lunch we had an event called “tai chi”, it is basically doing exercises and making us calm when we feel stressed it was good and active.

Finally, we had a group photo and that was it for the day.

​So overall it was a really great day.
I really enjoyed a lot about public speaking, getting confident, learning new things, meeting new people and to know about the dangers of social media
So that’s my story about my first alps  ​

Photos taken by Twinkle Maliyakal

Ashwin has also volunteered recently with club athletes and family members at a bagpacking fundraiser on September 28th in SuperValu Killester. Here he writes about his experience:

​"Bag packing is a great way to raise money. Killester Special Olympics basketball club organised a bag packing in the local Supervalu supermarket at Killester to raise money and spread the word about our basketball club in the local community.

I was doing bag packing for the club for the first time and it was a very good experience.The reason why I volunteered is because I wanted to help the club to raise money to buy new equipment’s, uniforms, basketballs, training expenses and other things for the club and also to spread the wonderful work the club does.

I did bag packing for 2 hours and it was a good experience. I was helped by the coaches and supported by the Supervalu staff at the till. There were people who wanted to help and there were others who did not want help. But I asked everybody with a smile “do you want help please” and I helped many people by packing their shopping bags and in return they donated money for our club.

Overall it was nice to help people, to talk to people, to know other people and becoming a better person.
So that’s my story and experience of my first bag packing for Killester special Olympics basketball club"


​The committee and coaches are really looking forward to supporting Ashwin in this journey, and excited to share this experience with him.
​

Eastern Region Athlete Leadership Forum
Crown Plaza, Blanchardstown, November 19, 2016
While it is a busy time of year at Killester Special Olympics with weekly training and matches, two of our athletes managed to squeeze an extra special event into their already stretched schedules. David McG  and David C, members of our men's squads, participated in the recent Athlete Leadership forum event organised by the Eastern Region. The day was jam packed with useful workshops and lots of opportunities to enhance their personal skills. Both thoroughly enjoyed the workshops on Communication through Art, Preparation for Competition and Presentation skills but it was the photography workshop that got them really fired up....so much so that our resident photographer will soon be out of a job!
​David and David are both interested in working towards their bronze ALPS awards, and the committee and volunteers will be there, along with their family, to support them in this journey. If their enthusiasm for the day's events is anything to go by, they are well on their way to the awards already!
Progress Report

In November we reported that David McG and David C had attended a very beneficial ALPS workshop (see above). This day ignited a flame in them both, and they have been working nonstop over the past few months to develop their self-confidence and personal skills through undergoing tasks for their Bronze Award. While both of them have been dedicated to volunteering each week with our skills section, they have also shadowed committee members to learn about the running of the basketball programme.

David McG has been busy gaining experience in an Ambassadorial role of late. Seeing a need to publicise the great work of our programme, he undertook the challenge to create a poster to attract new members, while also addressing our recent AGM and speaking about his progress to date.

Both David C and David McG have expressed an interest in coaching, and recently attended an Introduction to Coaching course, along side their mentors, with Special Olympics Ireland, to take the first steps on their coaching pathways. The committee wish them the best of luck in their tasks and are looking forward to hearing about their progress in September.