“When you see the look on the face of an athlete with an intellectual disability after they have achieved something they never thought possible, it just pulls at the heartstrings.”
So says Special Olympics Port Pirie Region secretary Christine Hurling who first became involved in the organisation in 2000 after moving to Port Pirie.
Mrs Hurling met long-time member of Special Olympics, carer Maxine Bowden, through her own involvement in tenpin bowling.
They had become friends and Mrs Bowden prompted her to become involved in Special Olympics.
Since that request, Mrs Hurling has become a valued and highly-respected volunteer, supporting the athletes,
coaching and being a carer when travelling to events.
“Special Olympics is the most rewarding thing I have done,” she said.
“Watching these athletes makes me proud to be associated with them all.”
Mrs Hurling was born in Oxfordshire, the United Kingdom, in 1945 and after her marriage she migrated to Australia in1963 on the ship Canberra.
Her husband had gained employment at Leigh Creek so she was left alone for three weeks living at the Pennington Hostel in Adelaide in a strange environment with their eight-month-old daughter.
She moved to Leigh Creek and while living there she taught Religious Instruction in the school and helped the Girl Guides leader.
Then in 1965 she moved to Coromandel Valley and two years later sadness befell her with the loss of her third child.
Because of her involvement in Guiding since the age of seven, she started a Brownie Unit, as its leader, in Sullivans Beach following a move there in 1968.
She then became District Leader for Guiding for the Christies Beach district.
Mrs Hurling finished half of her nurses training while working at the Home for Incurables.
This gave her experience to work in
private nursing when she moved to the Barossa Valley after her marriage failed in 1976.
During her time in the Barossa she was a St John brigade member and she started playing tenpin in the league which forged part of her future. In 1989, after remarrying, Mrs Hurling moved to Bute where she became involved with the Guides in Moonta and Port Broughton, eventually becoming this region’s leader.
Friends living in Port Pirie enticed her to move to the city in 2000, but she continued to travel to and from Port Broughton with her commitment to the Guides for another 12 months culminating an 18-year involvement in the organisation.
Eventually the time and travel took its toll and she was also ready for a change so in 2001 she took the first steps on her next journey with the Special Olympic Port Pirie Region and into the lives of
people with an intellectual disability.
In 2002, Mrs Hurling and Mrs Bowden accompanied two local athletes competing with the SA team at the nationals in Sydney.
Then, in 2006, Mrs Hurling was Port Pirie’s head coach at the nationals in Queensland.
She is secretary of the Special Olympics Port Pirie Region and sports
co-ordinator, having been involved in coaching 21 bowlers.
Although she no longer bowls, she is on the Pirie City Tenpin Bowling Association Board as treasurer and is a past secretary.
She is the sports co-ordinator for the Port Pirie Masters Games for people with an intellectual disability.
A highlight for Mrs Hurling was coaching and accompanying Darren Leibhardt and Daryl Vermeeren who were invited to play in a basketball team at the New Zealand International Games.
The regular coach was pregnant so Mrs Hurling and Darren’s mother Mrs Shirley Leibhardt took on the job.
“I have never played basketball and did not know anything about the game,” Mrs Hurling said.
“We battled through and got there after receiving some guidance and instructions on the game from some papers.
“We were delighted because the boys won medals.” These days, Mrs Hurling is coaching Andrew Rufnak who has made the South Australian tenpin team to play at the national games in Adelaide in April.
Special Olympics bowlers are regulars at the Tenpin Bowling Country Cup that is always held in Adelaide over Easter.
Port Pirie, Riverland, Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Roxby Downs compete in regional games yearly with Port Pirie hosting last year’s event.
While the athletes are competing, Mrs Hurling coaches and supports them,
drives the bus and is a full-time carer.
Not afraid of hard work, Mrs Hurling assists the members in raising money by collecting cans at Memorial Oval in the football season.
“It is a major fundraiser which gives the members a sense of independence and helps them realise how vital fundraising is in helping with costs for their activities,” she said.
The community-spirited woman enjoys table tennis, gardening, card-making and playing with her 11-month-old Maltese Shitzu.
With a chuckle, Mrs Hurling said while doing a handypersons’ course she learned the art of concreting and has a certificate to prove it.
She enjoys special times with her four children and six grandchildren and also with her friends.
And, she admitted that her daughter Tina, with whom she shares a house, was a great support.
“I could not live without her,” said the doting mother.
Speaking on her experiences involved with Special Olympics, she said: “It has been wonderful. You get a lot more out of it than what you give.”
More volunteers are needed and Mrs Hurling would encourage people to put up their hands.
“Special Olympics gives the competitors a sense of belonging,” she said.
“It is a way to show that they can achieve what many other people can.
“I would love people to see the potential they have got to help them to grow.”
Perhaps we in the mainstream community should look past the disability of the person and see what they can do, not what they can’t.
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