The main job for Indonesia’s coaches at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games is to make sure their athletes are in peak physical and mental condition ahead of the Abu Dhabi event.

The Special Olympics World Games, an international sporting competition for athletes with intellectual disabilities, is a biennial event run by the International Olympic Committee-recognized Special Olympics organization.

The Games began Thursday and run till March 21. However, Indonesia’s athletes have not competed yet.

The coaches have focused on their athletes’ emotions as they know how important it is to maintain confidence amid high-level competition.

Bocce coach Suci Noor Rahmawaty said two athletes competing in the sport, Muhammad Febredy and Hafshah Nabila, had been showing progress ahead of the Games.

The basic principle of bocce, an Italian game, is to roll a bocce ball as close as possible to a target ball, which is called a palina. Bocce as a Special Olympics sport provides people with special needs the opportunity to have social contact, develop physically and gain self-confidence. Next to soccer and golf, bocce is the third-most participated sport in the world.

During the categorization process, both Febredy and Nabila performed better than they did at the National Special Olympic Games (Pornas).

“Febredy recorded a total score of 448 while Nabila scored 507. During the Pornas, Febredy’s best score was over 500 while Nabila’s record was above 800. The synthetic grass used here helped them as they trained on the same type of field at national training camp,” she said in a statement.

Suci added that both athletes were in good shape, as she wanted to make sure that they were not exhausted.

“During the Host Town [orientation program of the Games], they were very tired as the schedule was too tight. It influenced their mood. During the training session [back home], Febredy even refused to go to Ragunan [zoo] when we had our day off,” she said.

After the categorization process, Febredy and Nabila were involved in several activities at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center. The officials even lauded Febredy for being patient during the process and his coach noted that most athletes were consistently in high spirits while on the field.

Competing in such large-scale events, however, can make some athletes nervous because of the stakes. Heri Septiawan and Yunika Pujiastika of the table tennis squad admitted that they were nervous but thanked their coach Tiyas Vegariani for helping them to overcome the pressure.

“I am so excited but also nervous at the same time. I scream to shoo the nerves away,” said Heri, who has been playing the sport since the age of 8.

Heri and Yunika look to compete in the under-22 group but are still waiting for the results of the categorization, which will be announced on Friday Abu Dhabi time.

Indonesia’s team sent 68 athletes, consisting of 54 athletes and 14 unified partners.

This year’s edition of the Games features 24 sports, with 7,500 athletes from 190 countries and 20,000 volunteers from around the globe.

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