Special Olympics NZ lower South Island regional sports co-ordinator Jan Aitken, of Dunedin, and Southland co-ordinator and coach Alison Saunders, of Invercargill, hosted an information evening to assess community interest in starting a club for residents with intellectual disabilities.
A total of 18 "amazing and inspirational" people attended the meeting in the Disabilities Resource Centre (DRC) Mrs Aitken said yesterday.
The Special Olympics Central Lakes Club was formed and volunteers stepped up for key positions at the meeting.
Lizzie Christopher and Steph Woodham became club co-ordinators, Caroline Hutchison became secretary and Jo Wright became treasurer.
Sian Waite became aquatics coach and Edwin John became all-round head coach.
"The next step is we now get board approval from Special Olympics New Zealand to form the committee and start training," Mrs Aitken said.
"Hopefully, we'll have a meeting here within the next four weeks to plan how, where and when and keep costs to a minimum."
Special Olympics NZ organises year-round, nationwide programmes of sports training and competition for more than 5000 athletes with intellectual disabilities, from the age of 5, supported by 2500 coaches and volunteers.
"It's all about friendship, healthy lifestyles and a sense of belonging," Mrs Aitken said.
Club members followed their choices of sports codes.
The Central Lakes club was likely to include aquatics, football, indoor bowls, equestrian and snowsports.
DRC figures report 18.1% of the Wakatipu population lives with some kind of mental, physical or general health impairment.
Mrs Aitken said principal Lyn Cooper told her every class in Wakatipu High School had three or four pupils with autism.
"We don't get that many coming from schools to our events, so let's hope more get involved," she said.
"The primary schools were very supportive in communicating the sports club idea to the community."
The initiative was prompted by the positive response to an indoor bowls competition in Cromwell in May, attended by 30 Central Otago people.
Enthusiastic conversations about a dedicated club followed between Mrs Aitken and Wakatipu High School sports co-ordinator Edwin John and teacher aide Ms Christopher, plus DRC consultant John Brannon.
