We're in Alabama while Mary Ellen accompanies Aly on a band trip to the Fiesta Flambeau Parade in San Antonio.
Earlier, we took Shawn to Ohio State University to compete in the NIRSA (National Intramural Recreation and Sports Association) national basketball championship. I fell completely in love with this type of Special Olympics competition. In the Unified Division, athletes of all ages and abilities, play on teams that consist of three "athletes" who have varying levels of impairment and two "partners" who have typical abilities and skills. Shawn was quite possibly the lowest functioning athlete we saw, but he was treated as a full team member.
Shawn's ball-handling skills are pretty low, and he's absolutely not a defense threat. However, he loves to take the long three-point shot and is usually really close, and sometimes even gets the "nothin' but net" shot.
What I loved about this tournament was that everyone knew they were there to win, but that was a little bit secondary to getting to play and have fun. What other basketball game have you ever seen where the refs will congratulate players, smile encouragingly at them, and even exchange high-fives? Where else are you going to see members of the opposing team celebrate when an opposing player makes a great shot? How about when a defender backs off and says, "Go ahead, Shawn, shoot it?" It was so VERY
encouraging to watch.
The pictures I'm adding to this are of Shawn's three-point shot. As soon as the ball went through the hoop, his team captain called time out so they could celebrate with him. In the photos, if you look closely you can see members of his opposing team clapping for him along with everyone else.
Later, after the game, his team awarded him a game ball for his participation. I'll confess, my eyes got just a little bit leaky over that one.
Post by Tom Meadows
