SOUTH HADLEY — South Hadley High School will host the seventh annual Basketball Special Olympics School Day Games on Thursday, welcoming more than 150 student-athletes from neighboring districts to the school for a morning of competition and teamwork.
“We’re just trying to make this all about the kids,” said Pamela Soderbaum, an elementary school special education teacher who helped coordinate the event. “The more we can include and highlight their talents and skills the better it is for everybody.”
More than twice as many students are participating this year than last year, when 65 attended, according to Soderbaum. More than 80 student volunteers from South Hadley High will help the event run smoothly, from the high school’s varsity basketball teams, the Best Buddies Program and Student Council.
“We’re happy it has gotten bigger,” Soderbaum said. “It just gives every student a chance to shine on this day and having our high school volunteers really helps build the community.”
South Hadley will host participants from other districts including Amherst, Belchertown, Easthampton, Granby, Gateway, Hampshire Regional, Ludlow, Northampton, Palmer, Ware and West Springfield. Students from second grade through high school will make up 16 different groups that will rotate between different activities.
The winter Special Olympics games were held at Michael E. Smith Middle School for three years before moving to the high school’s larger gymnasiums four years ago as the event grew. In the spring, Northampton High School hosts the Special Olympics for track and field, while Granby High School hosts soccer event in the fall.
Soderbaum, with the help of adaptive physical education teacher Tania Chrzanowski and school adjustment counselor Elizabeth Wood, are serving as organizers for this year’s event. That work used to be done by a staff member at the Collaborative for Educational Services in Northampton who has since left the job, Soderbaum said.
“Basically the main thing is we are now the coordinators and the host, we don’t have that middle person who knew all the kids anymore,” she said.
To accommodate more students, organizers had to invent 15 new activities in addition to the main games — basketball and bowling. Hula hooping, bean bag tossing, Simon Says, giant Jenga, scarf juggling and cup stacking will be offered for students of varying abilities.
Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m., with the games starting at about 10:15. South Hadley Police will award medals at the closing ceremony at 12:30 p.m. Attendance is free and participants’ family and friends are encouraged to attend.
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com