Jamaican Special Olympics team head for Athens - Volleyball news
The Special Olympics team of Jamaica is all set to head towards Athens today for the 13th Special Olympics World Summer Games that are scheduled to commence from 24th June.
The Jamaican team was facing problems related to generating funds that would support their stay in Athens. However, to the relief of the Jamaican Special Olympics team, the problem has now been solved. The governments of the United States of Americas as
well as the Spanish government helped the Special Olympics team by cancelling the visa fees of a total of 55 team members. Out of these 55 members, 43 are athletes while the rest of the 12 are coaches. The relaxation that the Olympics team has received in
terms of waiving of the visa fee amounts to J$ 1 million.
Despite the fact that the Jamaican Special Olympics team has received so much support from foreign quarters, it still feels uncomfortable and disappointed that their own government could not give them the support that they needed. The Jamaican government
compensate for the airline fees of the Special Olympics squad which became a major obstacle in their way. There came a point where the Jamaican team had almost decided not to take part in the Special Olympics because the cost of travelling as well as accommodation
expenditures was too high for them.
Compounding the situation further, the Special Olympics athletes could not get ownership of bags that were donated to them by Puma for their personal belongings. An official associated with the Special Olympics team made the following comments about the
bags and the airline fee: "The over J$40,000 was just not achievable and we could just not pay for it. The waiver for the airline fees was also waiting on a signature and so the delegation had to take up the cost."
For the Jamaican team, the head coach for volleyball is Joyline Williams who will be assisted by Beverly Gayle. In all, the Special Olympics volleyball team consists of eight players that will get the chance to show their skills at the world event.
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