Donabate Portrane Special Olympics Club 2022/2023 update

Just like that our 5th year in operation has come to an end and what a year! Our Young Athlete Program continues, and we welcomed many new members throughout the year. This group cater to athletes aged 4 years + and focuses on gaining gross motor skills and introducing the basic skills of various sports e.g.,running, throwing, catching, balancing, turn-taking, striking, etc.,all through fun and games. Our three basketball groups started this year, and they have all progressed so well. We have a ‘Come and try’ basketball’ team and a girls’ preteen/teen team training on Thursday evenings. On Fridays, our teen boys’ team meets up. The athletics club meets on Saturday mornings. Over the past year, their members have been introduced to the rules of athletics meets and have been training hard to master them. They have recently trained on the ALSAA track and in the National Indoor Arena and tried out new events like the high jump and the long jump. Our wonderful gymnastics club has gone from strength to strength and the progress of the gymnasts is very impressive. It is hard to believe that they have only been training for less than 10 months. They finished off their fantastic year by hosting an interclub gymnastics competition with Tivoli Tigers Special Olympics Club.None of these clubs could exist without our amazing volunteers and coaches. We would like to publicly thank each and every one of them and look forward to seeing them and all our athletes when the club starts back in September. We are always looking for volunteers to give just a few hours a week with our club or if you would like to enquire about your child joining our club, please email us at dpsoclub@gmail,com

This is easy… we are offering you the chance to win €50. All you have to do is correctly fill in the crossword and discover the name of an area in Fingal spelt out in the coloured squares. Then send the completed crossword and your answer by email, with your name, address and telephone number to communitylocals@ gmail.com before 5pm on the 16th of this mnoth. The first correct entry to be drawn will win €50..Good luck

Across

1. Free from roughness. (6)

5. Accept to be true without proof. (6)

10. Capable of reasoning in an orderly fashion. (7)

11. Large champion of the Philistines in the Bible. (7)

12. Wind into rings or spirals. (4)

13. Houses for families. (5)

15. Securely fixed in place. (4)

17. Entered into marriage. (3)

19. A maxim, proverb. (6)

21. Flat-bottomed boats for carrying heavy loads. (6)

22. Rolled and turned smoothly in gymnastics. (7)

23. Come to pass, occur. (6)

25. Large Asian endangered felines. (6)

28. The part of a sofa that supports the elbow. (3)

30. Noisy, clamorous. (4)

31. The food of love. (5)

32. A travelling show. (4)

35. Our second official language. (7)

36. Nationality of a native of Naples. (7)

37. The person in charge of a publication. (6)

38. Breathed noisily, as when one is exhausted. (6)

Down

2. Enlarge in size or significance. (7)

3. Bad guys in Lord of the Rings. (4)

4. Empty inside. (6)

5. Verbally disagreed. (6)

6. The lone fish. (4)

7. The message that is intended. (7)

8. Particular regions. (6)

9. Short poems for children. (6)

14. Projecting body parts. (7)

16. Go into, make a record of. (5)

18. Wireless transmission and reception (5)

20. Portable weapon. (3)

21. Place a stake on an outcome. (3)

23. Aided, assisted. (6)

24. Fell abruptly. (7)

26. Consider in detail, question closely. (7)

27. Reduced in size. (6)

28. Professional writer of books. (6)

29. Blending into one mass. (6)

33. An indirect suggestion. (4)

34. Star rodents. (4)