Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jun 03/98) - The smiles say it all.

For about an hour every Tuesday night since mid-March, they have brightened the faces of several volunteers and half a dozen mentally disabled men and women who meet at Leo Ussak elementary school gym to get some exercise and have fun.

The small group of excited athletes whose laughter fills the gym make up Nunavut's first chapter of the Special Olympics.

"I've never heard them laugh so much," said Phyllis Kalk, a former employee of the children's group home.

"They look forward to this all week. They talk about how many sleeps until they have Special Olympics."

An international organization started in the late- 1960s by physical education professor Frank Hayden, Special Olympics provides year-round athletic training and occasional Olympic-style competition for people with mental disabilities.

Hayden, who visited Rankin Inlet last September, planted the seed for Nunavut's first chapter of the Special Olympics, and the idea finally came to fruition in March.

The group took another leap forward over the past couple of weeks when the volunteers received training to help make the program more structured and geared more toward the needs of the athletes.

Simon Mundey, program director for Special Olympics in Winnipeg, travelled to Rankin Inlet to certify the volunteers as Special Olympic coaches.

"You guys have got a great bunch of athletes here," he told the coaches. "There are a couple in particular who show great potential for competition."

While the group is still in its early stages, coaches are constantly recruiting new volunteers and other mentally disabled members of the community who might benefit from the program. To date, all athletes live either at the children's or adult's group homes. They would like to target other members of the community.

"We would like to see other members of the community get involved," said Const. Ken Foster, who was integral in organizing the first chapter.