On Feb. 23, Longwood University will be host to a Special Olympics event known as the Piedmont Regional Basketball Tournament. Longwood’s participation in the Special Olympics has been going on for at least 20 years. Longwood became a regional site around 10 or 15 years ago.
Associate Professor of Therapeutic Recreation Dr. Susan Lynch said, “Initially it started out as ... an Area 12 tournament. So, they would invite one or two teams to come, and we would provide opportunities for Area 12 athletes. I would probably say, between 10 to 15 years ago I actually asked the regional office that is in Richmond if we could change this tournament to make it more meaningful to the students here because a lot of students volunteer.”
Area 12 is a term defined by the five counties surrounding Prince Edward County, including the town of Farmville and Cumberland County.
Lynch commented that initially, the Piedmont Regional Basketball Tournament began with around 30 athletes. Now, the tournament attracts a minimum of 300 athletes.
In the past, Longwood has had around 200 to 300 students volunteer to help out in the Special Olympics, whether as scorekeepers, referees or cheerleaders. The volunteers can also be a buddy to the visiting athletes.
There is a student organization, a therapeutic recreation organization, which volunteers at the registration table or at the table selling T-shirts. There are also athletic trainers, who are responsible for providing first aid in the gyms. The sorority Alpha Sigma Alpha also provides games in the area where the athletes go to relax between the events.
Lynch said, “There are three events going on: half-court games, full- court games and individual skills. Individual skills means that an individual participates in certain skills. One of them is free throws, another skill is target pass and one is dribbling. The individual has different skills that he or she competes in against other individual athletes.”
Lynch said, “The interesting thing about Special Olympics is that they believe that everybody wins.”
“Everybody gets an award,” she added.
The athletes who will be attending the tournament are from different regions of the state. They can range in ages from middle school/high school age to adulthood. The tournament is open to any person with intellectual disabilities, which is the primary diagnosis needed in order to compete in the Special Olympics.
If someone does not live in Area 12, that does not make him or her cut off from the other tournaments held in other regions of the state. The only stipulation to participate in state competition is that the team or the individual – depending on the event the individual is competing in – has to compete in some regional competition in order to qualify to compete in state. If this is not completed, the team/ individual cannot compete in state competition.
Individuals, who will be coming to the tournament, will be traveling from Roanoke, Lynchburg, Northern Virginia, Virginia Beach, Richmond and Petersburg.
If interested in volunteering for this year’s tournament, please contact Sara Dougherty at sara.dougherty@ live.longwood.edu or contact Dr. Susan Lynch at lynches@longwood. edu.
