PICTURES: Celebrations as Tipperary athlete set to represent Ireland at World Winter Games

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A Tipperary Special Olympics Club athlete represents Ireland at the World Winter Games.

The Special Olympics World Winter Games Turin 2025 will take place from March 8th to 18th, bringing together over 1,500 athletes from 103 countries to compete in eight thrilling winter sports.

This ground-breaking event will celebrate the incredible talents and unwavering determination of people with intellectual disabilities, highlighting the transformative power of inclusion through sport.

Among the competitors are 14 amazing athletes from Team Ireland, ready to dazzle the competition in Skiing and Floorball. They are striving for gold and in doing so are inspiring the world with their passion and perseverance.

Floorball is one of the newest team sports to join the Special Olympics programme both worldwide and in Ireland. It 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. It is a fast game which enables athletes to develop speed, power and agility along with great team spirit.

One of the Floorball team members is 30-year-old Frank O'Dwyer from Ballylanders. Frank has been active in Special Olympics with Tipperary Special Olympics Club, Munster for 12 years.

In that time, he's won 10 medals representing both Team Munster and Team Ireland, across a dizzying array of sports including basketball, swimming, athletics, football, and floorball.

His sporting interests include Manchester United, Limerick hurling and Munster rugby, while in his free time he loves the cinema and socialising with friends.

Frank's word of advice to fellow athletes is: "Be a good team leader, support each other and respect your coaches and volunteers because without them we wouldn't be here".

Along with his activity with the Tipperary Special Olympics Club, Frank works on a CE Scheme at the Knockanrawley Resource Centre in Tipperary Town.

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"I am representing Ireland at Floorball, it is like indoor hockey. There are 8 on the team and there will be 3 outfielders and 1 goalkeeper. I have been playing Floorball for some time. I won a Gold Medal last March (2024) in Armagh and I knew since last May that I had qualified to play in Turin. The team meet monthly and train alternately in Dublin one month and in Buttevant, Co Cork the next month. We will be playing games most days that we are in Turin and the final will be on the 15th.

"About 8 of my family are flying over for the Games, so they will all be cheering me on in Turin as well as the Special Olympics Team" said Frank. He went on to add that he really likes working in Knockanrawley. I work in the garden here, planting flowers, sowing seeds and general maintenance and I really love it here".