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2008 Ohio Special Olympics North Section Basketball Tournament

Be sure to attend the 2008 Ohio Special Olympics North Section Basketball Tournament at LCCC. This is an outstanding event, and everyone is invited to help support and encourage the participants.

• Click to view Special Olympics video

2008 Special Olympics Schedule

Click here for a map of the Special Olympics location

How to Volunteer

Click the Special Olympics Volunteer Sign-Up Form to select the days and times you are available to help. We will contact you prior to the event with the final schedule.

Thank you for your help. If you have questions or suggestions, please e-mail sloffice@lorainccc.edu.

About the Special Olympics

Special Olympics is an international program of year-round sports and athletic competition for children and adults with mental retardation. The Special Olympics Oath is “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

The Special Olympics Mission is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for individuals with mental retardation by giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness; demonstrate courage; experience joy; and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendships with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

The benefits of participation in Special Olympics for people with mental retardation include improved physical fitness and motor skills, greater self-confidence, a more positive self-image, friendships, and increased family support. Special Olympics athletes carry these benefits with them into their daily lives at home, in the classroom, on the job and in the community. Families who participate become stronger as they learn a greater appreciation of the athlete’s talents. Community volunteers find out what good friends the athletes can be. And everyone learns more about the capabilities of people with mental retardation.

Special Olympics began in 1968 when Eunice Kennedy Shriver organized the First International Special Olympics Games at Soldier Field, in Chicago. The concept was born in the early 1960s when Shriver started a day camp for people with mental retardation. She saw that people with mental retardation were far more capable in sports and physical activities than many people thought. Since 1968, millions of children and adults with mental retardation have participated in Special Olympics.

To be eligible to participate in Special Olympics, athletes must be at least eight years old and identified by an agency or professional as having one of the following conditions: mental retardation, cognitive delays as measured by formal assessment, or significant learning or vocational problems due to cognitive delay that require or have required specially designed instruction.

Special Olympics provides year-round training and competition in 24 official sports. Special Olympics has developed and tested training programs that are outlines in a Sports Skills Guide for each sport. More than 140,000 qualified volunteer coaches train Special Olympics athletes.