Special Olympics athletes hit the court at Du Arena at the weekend to train with the Harlem Globetrotters, the American performance basketball team.
The Globetrotters were in the UAE this weekend for their Amazing Feats of Basketball World Tour.
About 20 special needs athletes honed their skills from Globetrotters including Corey ‘Thunder’ Law.
Thunder has broken several Guinness World Records include farthest basketball shot under a leg, at 15.98 metres, and the farthest backwards shot at 25.04 metres. But even he learnt from the 20 special needs athletes who joined the workshop.
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“Anytime we get to work and play with athletes from the Special Olympics and people of determination it teaches us a lot,” said Thunder in a statement. “It was great to be able to interact with them and see the things they can do and achieve that even I can’t do. We worked together hand in hand, we had fun and they taught us a lesson about persistence.”
The training followed the IX MENA Games in Abu Dhabi, where more than 1,000 athletes from 32 countries. Basketball is a unified sports in the Special Olympics, where those with intellectual disabilities are teamed up with those without.
“The Unified Sports initiative delivers a double message of breaking down barriers and that people both with and without intellectual disabilities can enjoy sport together,” Peter Wheeler, the chief executive of Special Olympics UAE, said in a statement.
Next year, Abu Dhabi will host the 2019 Special Olympics World Games.
