Four to participate in Special Olympics

Four area athletes will be participating in a local Special Olympics individual basketball skills challenge in January.

Cameron Houston, A.J. Runkel and Veronica Doehring of Vandalia, and Michael Seward of Ramsey are each practicing once a week with volunteer coach Erica Foltz at the Family YMCA of Fayette County in preparation for the Special Olympics Illinois Area 12 event at Mascoutah Junior High School on Saturday, Jan. 19.

“It’s awesome,” said YMCA Program Director Amber Daulbaugh. “I can tell that since our first practice, they have already improved.”

Daulbaugh for three years worked for Special Olympics, and has been working toward starting a program at the YMCA for a year.

“With my experience, I knew we could do it, we just needed to find the athletes and the volunteer coaches,” Daulbaugh said.

The kids will each participate in three skill challenges at Mascoutah, with hopes of winning a gold medal in their division.

Each will have five attempts at a wall pass, where they will try to bounce a basketball off of the wall inside a 1-by-1-meter box and catch it inside a 3-by-3-meter box where they will be standing.

Points will be awarded for the accuracy of the pass and whether or not the athlete catches the ball on the return.

A timed 10-meter dribble will test the athlete’s speed and skill in dribbling a basketball. Athletes must dribble the ball one-handed for the entire course and will have two attempts.

The final event is the spot shot, which will measure an athlete’s skill in shooting a basketball.

Six spots will be marked on the floor along the outside of the paint, and each athlete will have two attempts at each shot. Points are awarded based on how far the shot is from the basket.

Shots that are not made, but hit the backboard or rim will also earn a point.

All of the athletes in Area 12, which includes 10 counties in Southwestern Illinois, will have a trial run prior to the Jan. 19 competitions. The scores from those trials will be used to determine which division an athlete will participate in.

The ultimate goal, according to an information sheet, is to place athletes with like abilities together, “in an effort to promote fair competition.”

One gold medal is awarded per division, and all athletes will receive at least a participation ribbon.

Gold-medal winners will advance to the state competition, which will be at Redbird Arena in Normal from March 15-17.

Special Olympics Illinois is a program that serves athletes of all ages who have intellectual disabilities, with a goal to provide improved physical fitness and motor skills, greater self-confidence, and a more positive self-image.