JERSEY resident John Grady has been appointed as head coach to the Special Olympics Great Britain gymnastics squad for the 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games, in Shanghai.

Grady, head coach at the remarkably successful Mont à l’Abbé Special Gymnastics Club, has been a driving force in the development of special gymnastics in Jersey and many of his charges at the club have achieved tremendous results, both in the Island and competing overseas.

Grady said: ‘I’m very pleased to have been chosen, but part of me is saying: “”That’s another fine mess I’ve got myself into!”".’ He explained that the Great Britain Special Olympic organisers asked people to apply for the posts of head coach, in all the 23 sports to be featured at the Games, and he was asked to go for an interview at the beginning of December.

‘It was quite a formal interview, and I had to make a presentation as well as being grilled.

It was hard work but an interesting experience!’ He expects to meet his charges – the GB gymnastics team comprises eight athletes – towards the end of the summer, once assistant coaches and team members have been selected.

‘We’ll have a series of teaam meetings and training sessions so we can all get to know each other.

It’s especially important for the special athletes that the team builds up a good relationship.’ Grady was appointed assitant coach to the Olympic gymnastics team in 1999, in the USA, and one of the team members was Tracy Gouyet, a Mont à l’Abbé special gymnast.

‘I think there’s a strong possibility that at least one of the gymnasts in the team will be from Jersey, although the competition for places is tough.

There are only eight in the team and they are selected from all over Great Britain,’ Grady said.

He hopes to learn a few words of Cantonese or Mandarin before he sets off to China.

‘I understand that English is widely spoken in Shanghai, but I hope to pick up a few words, like “”hello”", “”please”" and “”thankyou”", so I can at least greet our hosts in their own language’ And he added: ‘When I really start thinking about the Games I become aware that there is so much to be done and so much to get right.

It is a bit daunting – but it’s also an opportunity that I cannot miss.’