Tipperary Special Olympics Club athlete to represent Ireland in World Winter Games

Tipperary Special Olympics Sport Club have said they are "honoured" to have one of their chosen to represent Team Ireland at a major world event in 2025.

Athlete Frank O'Dwyer, a native of Ballylanders, has been chosen for Team Ireland in Floorball for the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Italy in March 2025.

The event will bring together over 1500 athletes from 103 countries. Floorball is one of eight sports been held in various sports venues over Italy with Floorball been held in Turin.

The sport is a hockey style game, and is played in a 4 v 4 format. Floorball is played indoors and due to its smaller team size can provide an opportunity for participation in team sports for clubs with smaller membership.

Frank’s journey began back in 2022, training weekly every Tuesday for two hours with Tipperary Special Olympics in Canon Hayes Recreation Centre in Tipperary Town.

Tipperary Special Olympics Club has been running for over 32 years with over 25 non paid committed volunteers who gave weekly of time to train our athletes in 9 different sports and three different clubs.

Frank has been given excellent training weekly since 2022 from Volunteers Mike Ryan, Eddie Kennedy and Lily Carter with commitment from Frank and his family especially over the winter months.

In September 2022, two teams took part in Special Olympics Regional Games in Waterford SETU Arena, and Frank was part of a male team of eight players that battled hard to win 1st place, bringing the gold medal home.

The team has since competed at the Special Olympics Ireland Games held in Armagh in March, and following further success was selected as part of Floorball Team Ireland to travel to Italy in 2025.

All costs for Frank travelling to world games are covered by Special Olympics Ireland.

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