Nicola McIntyre
Sep6Written by:
9/6/2010 9:38 AM 
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(Left-Right) Nicole Smith, Siobhan Dunne & Nicola McIntyre. Nicole won 4th place ribbon in the women's 7-aside football in Poland.
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Nicola McIntyre from Tyrone is one of 34 athletes who travelled to Poland as part of Team Ireland to participate at the Special Olympics European Games in September.
Nicola has been involved with Special Olympics for the past 6 years and is a member of Strabane and District Special Olympics Club. Her main sport is football and this is what she will compete in at the European Games.
Nicola has enjoyed much success through Special Olympics participating in and winning a number of medals at regional and Ireland level. She loves participating in sport and loves the feeling of being fit and healthy.
Before joining Special Olympics Nicola’s life was not as busy as it is now. She wasn’t actively involved in sport and didn’t have regular training sessions to look forward to. She used to spend a lot of time at home and didn’t have friends of her own. In her own words “I had nothing to do and used to sit at home and look out the window”. All of that changed through Special Olympics.
Now Nicola is much fitter and trains with her friends twice a week. She is much more out-going and is much more confident. This confidence has led to Nicola being a spokesperson for Special Olympics on numerous occasions. She was the athlete face of the 2006 Special Olympics Ireland Games when they were held in Belfast. This was a role she shared with her favourite sporting hero, David Humphries. Last year she attended an exhibition about Special Olympics, which was held in the EU Parliament in Brussels. At the exhibition Nicola was interviewed by CNN about her involvement in Special Olympics.
Nicola is very much looking forward to the Special Olympics European Games. She hopes that she and her team-mates to do well in their football matches and is also looking forward to meeting lots of new people.
In her free time Nicola enjoys shopping and listening to music. She also enjoys watching television and her favourite programme is Coronation Street.