- 著者
- 田引 俊和 渡邊 浩美
- 出版者
- 日本生涯スポーツ学会
- 雑誌
- 生涯スポーツ学研究 (ISSN:13488619)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- vol.19, no.1, pp.37-45, 2022 (Released:2022-12-07)
This study focuses on the national games of Special Olympics Nippon, a sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities, to examine the effects and significance of the games as a lifelong sports event in the formation of a basic sports environment for people with intellectual disabilities in Japan. In the 1990s, sports for people with intellectual disabilities had yet to achieve widespread recognition on the part of society as a whole, including on the part of family members and other stakeholders, and opportunities and methods were also not yet adequate. In this context, Special Olympics Nippon has staged summer and winter editions of its national games every 4 years, respectively, since its establishment in 1994. In addition to attracting an increasing number of individual athletes with disabilities, these national games have been expanding the number of matches and events held on each occasion. Moreover, in conjunction with the staging of the games, the organizers have popularized the understanding of sports for people with intellectual disabilities and increased membership and bases of activity across the country. These efforts have set the foundation for lifelong sports for people with intellectual disabilities and facilitated both their development and expansion. In the background of this development has been the foundational idea of the Special Olympics, which emphasize “participation” rather than “record-keeping” and “winning and losing.” Though these games are staged at the national level, athletes are broadly able to take part, regardless of their competitive skill or degree of disability, and it is this characteristic that has arguably led to their subsequent expansion. On the other hand, some potential needs remain. It will be necessary to create environments in which people with intellectual disabilities can take part in sports over the course of their lives, beyond the frame of school-based education.