GISD to host Special Olympics basketball competition

Graham High School is set to play host to the annual Area 9 Basketball Competition of the Special Olympics of Texas next month.

Each year that Graham ISD has hosted the competition since COVID, the event has grown in size and popularity. Although it’s just a one-day event, individuals with special needs come from all around Area 9, which encompasses Wichita County, Young County and others up to Decatur.

“We are an organization that obviously works with people with intellectual disabilities, and we range programs from the ages of eight and under for our younger athletes and what we do there is fundamentals and getting them prepared to maybe enter our programs,” Area 9 Program Director Vanessa Alonzo said. “...We'll have athletes ranging from ages eight to my oldest three athletes that are going to be participating are in their 70s.”

The event will be held Saturday, March 2 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the GHS basketball gyms. The opening ceremonies will begin at 9 a.m. and then the individuals and teams will be split into two different gyms.

The first gym will host individual skill development drills for athletes who can’t participate in the team aspect of the sport.

“They are athletes that are doing drills in order to either get to the level where they could play or just be modified because that's their skill level in dribbling, passing, shooting,” Alonzo said. “The modified (drills) actually are pretty awesome because we have wheelchair bound (athletes). We have extreme cases where they have to shoot into a big old trash can. So it's different levels on the individual skill drills ranging from children's age to that adult age.”

The second gym will host the team games, where athletes will compete in games of three-on-three and five-on-five. Six teams will participate in the actual games and rewards will be given out at the end of the day based on the results of the event.

While the event is put on by Special Olympics Texas and hosted at Graham High School, they are still in need of volunteers to help out.

With the event growing in size each year, the need for more individuals to volunteer their time and energy has increased as well.

Anyone interested in volunteering can find more information on Facebook at “Special Olympics Texas - North Texas Area” or on the website www.sotx.org. Individuals can also reach out to Alonzo via her phone number 737-704-6379 or at her email valonzo@sotx.org.

“We also need medical volunteers, that's where we're short is we need medical personnel,” Alonzo said. “We often use students, training EMTs, student nurses. It doesn't have to be a nurse practitioner or anything but we need somebody with a medical background to be there and have the resources to kind of know what to do if we need to escalate a situation.”

Alonzo knows that these sorts of events are not possible without the help of the community and she said that the citizens of Graham and surrounding areas have always been willing to assist in putting on a great competition for individuals with special needs.

“Jacksboro Lions Club will be supporting this event, Graham Rotary (Club) will be supporting this event…For us, we're grateful to the community there for supporting and the school district for allowing us and hosting us,” Alonzo said. “Our two contacts that help me run it, our leads are very helpful in that sense, so it makes it a smooth ride.”