Volunteers, Supporters Needed for Special Olympics Event
Are you enjoying the 2010 Winter Olympics? If so and you wish there was a way to get more involved, then now is the time to sign up as a volunteer for the 2010 Special Olympics North Section Basketball Tournament.
The Tournament will bring more than 500 athletes with mental retardation or other developmental disabilities to Lorain County Community College’s campus to compete in this annual basketball tournament. Teams that win in this regional tournament qualify to play in the Special Olympics State Tournament.
The North Section tournament is scheduled for 5:30-9 p.m., Fri., Feb. 26; 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sat., Feb. 27, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sun., Feb. 28 at LCCC’s Ewing Activities Center and Gym.
For more information on volunteering, contact LCCC’s Student Life office at 1-800-995-5222 (extension 4747) or log on to www.lorainccc.edu/so.
“The passion for this Special Olympics event that is shown by the LCCC students and staff, the businesses, organizations and schools from across Lorain County is phenomenal,” said Joe Antonucci, North Section director of Special Olympics Ohio. “All of these wonderful volunteers make this one our most special tournaments.”
Special Olympics competitions are patterned after the Olympic Games. More than 16,000 games, meets, and tournaments in both summer and winter sports are held worldwide each year. More than one million volunteers organize and run local Special Olympics, serving as coaches, game officials, drivers, and in many other capacities. Anyone can learn how to participate through the many training programs Special Olympics offers for coaches, officials, and volunteers.
At LCCC, volunteers are needed for the following positions – scoreboard operators, game bookkeepers, announcers and music operators. Other game-related positions include fans in the stands, signs, vocalists and instrumentalists to sing or play the National Anthem. Groups and individuals are sought to participate in the “Adopt a Team” activity – becoming its chief supporter and friend throughout the weekend.
“This is the 15th year for the Special Olympics basketball tournament at LCCC and each year is more exciting and fun than the year before,” said Laurie Carlberg, LCCC’s director of the Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Student Life division. This LCCC division is sponsoring the tournament and is coordinating it along with the LCCC Special Olympics committee.
Special Olympics Ohio seeks to provide improved physical fitness and motor skills, greater self-confidence, a more positive self-image, friendships and increased family support for those with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. Teams competing come from Ashtabula, Columbiana, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Stark, Summit, and Wayne counties. Approximately 25 basketball games are played during this tournament. A Skills Competition is also held from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, February 27 for other Special Olympians who are not playing in the games.
Special Olympics is an international program of year-round sports training and athletic competition for more than one million children and adults with mental retardation. Headquartered in Washington D.C., Special Olympics guides local, area, state, and national programs around the world.
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Editors/Reporters: To contact Joe Antonucci of Special Olympics Ohio, call (330) 634-8950.