Young Athletes shine at the Lions Europa Forum
The Lions Europa Forum 2025 brought Special Olympics and Lions Club members together in a way that highlighted the tremendous impact of our programmes including Young Athletes.
Young Athletes from Special Olympics Ireland joined forces with Sargent Shriver Global Messenger Margaret Turley and SOI's Youth Pathways and Impact Lead Dr Hayley Kavanagh to showcase the impact of Special Olympics programmes in a joyous and hands-on way.
Young Athletes training sessions during the Forum demonstrated the fun and inclusive approach to training fundamental movement skills that has been shown to have such a positive impact on outcomes for young people with intellectual disabilities.
This was facilitated by Margaret Turley and Dr Kavanagh, who also joined representatives from Special Olympics Europe Eurasia to discuss and promote the immense impact of #MissionInclusion, the global initiative of Lions Clubs International Foundation and Special Olympics, which spans programmes from Unified with Refugees to Opening Eyes and from Unified Sports to Young Athletes.
Thank you Lions Clubs International for your continued partnership and involvement - we look forward to deepening our collaboration onward into the future.
Photos by: Niall Rushe