December 10, 2025 • 8 mins
The highly anticipated Special Olympics Summer Games have returned to Christchurch this year!
Fran Scholey is the CEO of the Special Olympics Summer Games and she joined D'Arcy to talk about the event.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News talks'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Special Olympics Summer Games in christ Church. Fran Scolari joints
us now the CEO of the Special Olympics the National
Summer Games. Tell us all about what it is evening
Friand how are.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
You, Sorda Darcy, I'm good, thank you. How are you going?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah? Good, great to have you on. So I suppose
first up, tell us exactly what this celebration of sport
is all about. Because she's rather large. It covers a
lot of places all over or to TAKEI christ Church.
So let's just start from the start. What exactly is
the Special Olympics National Summer Games.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Great question. So Special Olympics National Summer Games is for
people with an intellectual impairment to compete in their chosen sport,
representing their region and their club in Autotahi christ Church.
We've got ten different sports that our athletes will be
competing in. Got twelve hundred and five athletes competing alongside
(01:10):
six hundred coaches and cares that have come down into
Autotahite christ Church for the week.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
That's a big number sport wise, how many sports do
they participate in and what kind of spread? What are
we talking about here sport wise, I'm presuming there'll be
sports that a lot of people play. There may be
some slightly tweaked sports as well, because it is a
special Olympics.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, so we actually have ten sports. Our most popular
sport is actually tenpin bowling, followed by swimming, and then
we have basketball. So we've both got individual sports and
we've got team sports. All of the sports are standard
in the sense that there are no adaptations, so our
athletes compete to the best of their abilities and that's
(01:57):
how they operate into their different divisions.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Massive sport, big execution for you guys. We've got to
ask who funds this? Where does the money come from
to put on an event of such size.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, we have amazing partners that support us. We've got
some philanthropic money, We've got some grant funders, and then
we do have our clubs that fundraise as well. So
it is a diverse of revenue streams that allow this
event to take place. And so we're just looking forward
to christ Church seeing it in action.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Across christ Church. How many venues are you looking at
and for how long does this event go? Frame?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, so we've got the opening at Wolfbrook Arena tonight
where we know we have over five thousand people that
are going to be coming in, so our teams makeup
seventeen hundred, so we've got the rest that have coming
in as volunteers and local supporters. So we can't wait
to showcase that. The games officially kick off on Thursday
(02:56):
and run all the way through to Sunday. We're operating
out a paddaicureda with basketball and swimming. We've got equestrian
golf that are out at the event News. We've got
indoor bowls at with bowls Canterbury. We've got out and
up on a way. We've got our powerlifters, athletics, we've
got our football, and we also have botchy.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
This is once every four years, is that correct? Frame?
Is this a regularly occurring event?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, it is once every four years, and the reason
why we do that is we every other year we
were building up to this, so we have athletes that
participate locally and they build their confidence in order to
go to what we call a T two event that's
a weekend event, so they're away from home for two days.
So what we're doing with that is ensuring that our
(03:48):
athletes have built the confidence enough to be away from
home and they're raring to go. And then the next
step with that is obviously the National Summer Games, which
is about four days away from home, and then we
have athletes that wish to participate even further at Well
Games and for those athletes, they're away for about three weeks.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
So that's the target ideally, is these athletes want to
go on a global stage. Is that the bell on
the end all for these athletes?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
No, that's not the bell on end all. So we
have athletes that just want to participate, that just want
to make friends, that just want to have an opportunity
to give us sport to go. So we've got our
community based participation. And then if we've got athletes that
want to go into a more high performance environment or
actually represent at a wider stuck scale, then they go
(04:36):
and participate at that world stage.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Kind of age groups to be looking at.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Here anywhere from eight to like eighty.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And the fact that's been going everyone, Yeah, so's it
goes every four years? How long has this been up
and running on a global scale? But more important to
here in our.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, so Special Olympics movement worldwide was founded in nineteen
sixty eight and in New Zealand it was founded by
Grant Quinn in nineteen eighty. So he was teaching a
couple of down syndrome swimmers in the pool and lower
huts in Wellington and he came across this American lady
that said, you just have to come over and see
(05:15):
the Special Olympics in action, and that's where it started.
They took four swimmers over. When they came back, Grant
decided that he was going to travel the whole entire
New Zealand and he knocked on the doors of every
single mayor in every single town and the quest for
inclusion and Special Olympics. And today we have forty two
clubs throughout the whole entire country.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Why christ Church, why particularly the Garden City to host
this event.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, we held in christ Church twenty years ago, but
the main key thing for us was the venues. So
obviously christ Church has gone through a major rebuild. So
we've got PARTICUREDO, We've got we're operating out an up
on a y in terms of traffic management of all
of our contingents. We've got a thousand volunteers in christ
Church that have put their hand up and why would
(06:06):
we not want to be here?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Fair enough And as far as participation goes, not for
the athletes, but for the crowd, because I expect to
bear a lot of people want to engage in this.
You've got a website people can find out what's on
and where. Please tell me it doesn't cost anything.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
No, it's nothing to view any of our sports. If
they head over to www dot NSG twenty twenty five
dot co door Nz, they will find a list in
timetable of all the events from Thursday through to Sunday
and they will witness, honestly the most incredible performances, sportsmanship
(06:43):
and just spirit of inclusion. So you have never seen
anything like the Special Olympics. So I recommend any of
your christ Church listeners to come on down.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, people from broader than Christes to roll on down.
It's not that far away. And finally, fran and thanks
very much for joining us. How do you gauge success
in this event? What do you look towards so you
can all sit back in the end, you go that
work that had its marks?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
What are they Yeah, we've got a variety of marks.
So for me, it is our athlete experience. So how
have they gained that confidence? How have they enjoyed their time?
We gage from our family forum, so we have a
family forum where families get together. We talk to them
to understand and see what was great for them. For them,
(07:29):
some of them have never ever witnessed there are athlete
or their son and daughter participating. So for us that's
a massive milestone that we get to be part of
something special with them. We've obviously got some economic markers
for the christ Church City Council, but overall we look
at our inclusion and we look at our awareness of
(07:49):
what Special Olympics is because we quite often get compared
to Paralympics, and Paralympics division obviously based on the disability
Special Olympics. We division our athletes based on their ability
so that they don't have that disability front and center.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Special Olympics in ZED twenty twenty five National Summer Games
or Tultaki christ Church and if you want to find
out more n SG twenty twenty five dot co dot
in z as where you need to go. Frank Schollie,
thanks so much for your time, wishing you the best
for rather next week or so.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
New For more from sports Talk, listen live to News
Talk zed B from seven pm weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News talks'd be.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Special Olympics Summer Games in christ Church. Fran Scolari joints
us now the CEO of the Special Olympics the National
Summer Games. Tell us all about what it is evening
Friand how are.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
You, Sorda Darcy, I'm good, thank you. How are you going?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah? Good, great to have you on. So I suppose
first up, tell us exactly what this celebration of sport
is all about. Because she's rather large. It covers a
lot of places all over or to TAKEI christ Church.
So let's just start from the start. What exactly is
the Special Olympics National Summer Games.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Great question. So Special Olympics National Summer Games is for
people with an intellectual impairment to compete in their chosen sport,
representing their region and their club in Autotahi christ Church.
We've got ten different sports that our athletes will be
competing in. Got twelve hundred and five athletes competing alongside
(01:10):
six hundred coaches and cares that have come down into
Autotahite christ Church for the week.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
That's a big number sport wise, how many sports do
they participate in and what kind of spread? What are
we talking about here sport wise, I'm presuming there'll be
sports that a lot of people play. There may be
some slightly tweaked sports as well, because it is a
special Olympics.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah, so we actually have ten sports. Our most popular
sport is actually tenpin bowling, followed by swimming, and then
we have basketball. So we've both got individual sports and
we've got team sports. All of the sports are standard
in the sense that there are no adaptations, so our
athletes compete to the best of their abilities and that's
(01:57):
how they operate into their different divisions.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Massive sport, big execution for you guys. We've got to
ask who funds this? Where does the money come from
to put on an event of such size.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, we have amazing partners that support us. We've got
some philanthropic money, We've got some grant funders, and then
we do have our clubs that fundraise as well. So
it is a diverse of revenue streams that allow this
event to take place. And so we're just looking forward
to christ Church seeing it in action.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
Across christ Church. How many venues are you looking at
and for how long does this event go? Frame?
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Yeah, so we've got the opening at Wolfbrook Arena tonight
where we know we have over five thousand people that
are going to be coming in, so our teams makeup
seventeen hundred, so we've got the rest that have coming
in as volunteers and local supporters. So we can't wait
to showcase that. The games officially kick off on Thursday
(02:56):
and run all the way through to Sunday. We're operating
out a paddaicureda with basketball and swimming. We've got equestrian
golf that are out at the event News. We've got
indoor bowls at with bowls Canterbury. We've got out and
up on a way. We've got our powerlifters, athletics, we've
got our football, and we also have botchy.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
This is once every four years, is that correct? Frame?
Is this a regularly occurring event?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Yeah, it is once every four years, and the reason
why we do that is we every other year we
were building up to this, so we have athletes that
participate locally and they build their confidence in order to
go to what we call a T two event that's
a weekend event, so they're away from home for two days.
So what we're doing with that is ensuring that our
(03:48):
athletes have built the confidence enough to be away from
home and they're raring to go. And then the next
step with that is obviously the National Summer Games, which
is about four days away from home, and then we
have athletes that wish to participate even further at Well
Games and for those athletes, they're away for about three weeks.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
So that's the target ideally, is these athletes want to
go on a global stage. Is that the bell on
the end all for these athletes?
Speaker 3 (04:15):
No, that's not the bell on end all. So we
have athletes that just want to participate, that just want
to make friends, that just want to have an opportunity
to give us sport to go. So we've got our
community based participation. And then if we've got athletes that
want to go into a more high performance environment or
actually represent at a wider stuck scale, then they go
(04:36):
and participate at that world stage.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Kind of age groups to be looking at.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Here anywhere from eight to like eighty.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
And the fact that's been going everyone, Yeah, so's it
goes every four years? How long has this been up
and running on a global scale? But more important to
here in our.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Yeah, so Special Olympics movement worldwide was founded in nineteen
sixty eight and in New Zealand it was founded by
Grant Quinn in nineteen eighty. So he was teaching a
couple of down syndrome swimmers in the pool and lower
huts in Wellington and he came across this American lady
that said, you just have to come over and see
(05:15):
the Special Olympics in action, and that's where it started.
They took four swimmers over. When they came back, Grant
decided that he was going to travel the whole entire
New Zealand and he knocked on the doors of every
single mayor in every single town and the quest for
inclusion and Special Olympics. And today we have forty two
clubs throughout the whole entire country.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
Why christ Church, why particularly the Garden City to host
this event.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah, we held in christ Church twenty years ago, but
the main key thing for us was the venues. So
obviously christ Church has gone through a major rebuild. So
we've got PARTICUREDO, We've got we're operating out an up
on a y in terms of traffic management of all
of our contingents. We've got a thousand volunteers in christ
Church that have put their hand up and why would
(06:06):
we not want to be here?
Speaker 2 (06:08):
Fair enough And as far as participation goes, not for
the athletes, but for the crowd, because I expect to
bear a lot of people want to engage in this.
You've got a website people can find out what's on
and where. Please tell me it doesn't cost anything.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
No, it's nothing to view any of our sports. If
they head over to www dot NSG twenty twenty five
dot co door Nz, they will find a list in
timetable of all the events from Thursday through to Sunday
and they will witness, honestly the most incredible performances, sportsmanship
(06:43):
and just spirit of inclusion. So you have never seen
anything like the Special Olympics. So I recommend any of
your christ Church listeners to come on down.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, people from broader than Christes to roll on down.
It's not that far away. And finally, fran and thanks
very much for joining us. How do you gauge success
in this event? What do you look towards so you
can all sit back in the end, you go that
work that had its marks?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
What are they Yeah, we've got a variety of marks.
So for me, it is our athlete experience. So how
have they gained that confidence? How have they enjoyed their time?
We gage from our family forum, so we have a
family forum where families get together. We talk to them
to understand and see what was great for them. For them,
(07:29):
some of them have never ever witnessed there are athlete
or their son and daughter participating. So for us that's
a massive milestone that we get to be part of
something special with them. We've obviously got some economic markers
for the christ Church City Council, but overall we look
at our inclusion and we look at our awareness of
(07:49):
what Special Olympics is because we quite often get compared
to Paralympics, and Paralympics division obviously based on the disability
Special Olympics. We division our athletes based on their ability
so that they don't have that disability front and center.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Special Olympics in ZED twenty twenty five National Summer Games
or Tultaki christ Church and if you want to find
out more n SG twenty twenty five dot co dot
in z as where you need to go. Frank Schollie,
thanks so much for your time, wishing you the best
for rather next week or so.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
New For more from sports Talk, listen live to News
Talk zed B from seven pm weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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