Photo Credit: Oregon Area Special Olympics Facebook Page

Special Olympics at OHS

By Gavin Rhodes

Many OHS students are involved in school sports. They have the opportunity to compete with neighboring schools in hopes of qualifying in the WIAA state tournament. However, there is another sports organization here where athletes are given the opportunity to compete with other students from across Wisconsin, the United States, and in some cases the world. 

This organization is the Special Olympics which gives students and adults with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to compete in various sporting events. Athletes can start at age 8 and go up to any age and the Oregon Area Special Olympics has about 50 athletes which includes 5 OHS students. We had the opportunity to talk to Ms. Elisa Ried who is the advisor for special olympics here at OHS. 

First of all, just like the regular olympic games, there are many different events for different sports in Special Olympics. Furthermore, just like high school sports where the athletes compete in different sports depending on the season. 

According to Ms. Ried, “Special Olympians can participate in bowling, track and field, swimming, basketball, and bocce ball.”

Furthermore, just like WIAA high school sports, Special Olympics is also divided up into regional, sectional and state tournaments where the best-performing athletes have a chance to compete with more and more athletes with special needs around the state. 

On Saturday, April 15th, there was a 3-day state tournament in Oshkosh where the athletes competed in swimming and basketball. 2 Oregon athletes ended up winning silver metals in the swimming events. 

Qualifying for the state tournament for any sport is always considered extremely impressive for WIAA sports because only the best teams from the entire state end up qualifying. In Special Olympics however, the best qualifying athletes get to compete at the national and international levels. 

 In 2018, the 3 Oregon Special Olympics qualified for the national tournament in Seattle, Washington. The national Special Olympic games ran for a whole week in July with 4000 athletes competing from all over the country. The special olympic games even included an opening and closing ceremony, ESPN television coverage and according to Ms. Reid, "Really fancy medals"

It is clear to see how impressive being able to qualify for these competitions must be for the athletes from Oregon to participate in Special Olympics. However, according to Ms. Ried, that is not why most of the Oregon athletes decided to participate in special olympics. “Winning medals is nice but my daughter and most of the athletes are doing it because their friends are doing it.” After All, most high schoolers often participate in the same kind of extracurriculars as their friends since there is an opportunity for mutual support and enjoyment that you don’t get, even with a fancy metal if you do it alone. 

It is clear that special olympics is such a cool organization that definitely does not get all of the attention it deserves. On Saturday, May 6th, there will be a Regional Special Olympic Track Meet right here at Panther Stadium with 400 athletes competing from around the area for a spot in the state tournament. It would be nice if students came out that day to cheer on the athletes, that would be amazing." If you like to do more than just spectate the meet, there are also volunteering opportunities available. Contact Ms. Ried if you are interested.