GMSO BASKETBALL TEAM COMPETES IN THE SPECIAL OLYMPICS CONNECTICUT "MARCH MADNESS" BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT ON SATURDAY, MARCH 19, 2011 IN WATERBURY AND WINS 4TH PLACE AWARD.
Ten athletes with the Greater Middletown Special Olympics basketball team, the "Thunderstorm" competed at the Special Olympics Connecticut "March Madness" Basketball Tournament hosted by Holy Cross High School, the Chase Collegiate School, Tinker Grammar School, Chase Park House, Westside Middle School & Kennedy High School in Waterbury on Saturday, March 19, 2011. The GMSO athletes on The "Thunderstorm" are James Brown, Ken Campanelli, Melissa Carta, Mike Cherry, Bobby McElroy, Tim Mohr, Kyle O' Neil, & Scott Thayer all from Middletown, Dwayne Allen of Haddam, and Ryan Breedlove of Meriden. The Head Coach is Deb Harris of Cromwell with assistant coaches Heather Ann Lodini & Jim Swol of Cromwell, Rodney Myers & Terry Shepard of Middletown. The team has been practicing for a month once a week before the tournament at the Riverview School in Middletown. The Tri-Town Special Olympics of Meriden & Wallingford fielded two basketball teams the "Tri-Town Thunder" & the "Tri-Town Lightning" that competed at the tournament.
The "Thunderstorm" competed in the morning qualifying rounds at Chase Collegiate School against other Special Olympics teams and won every game. In the first game of the morning they played the Seaside "Yellow Jackets" of Old Saybrook and defeated them 14-4. They played the East Hartford "Bobcats" and won with a score of 14-2. The "Thunderstorm" blew away the hometown team the Waterbury "Hurricanes" with a score of 8-4. In another game the mighty "Thunderstorm" team would not allow their opponent, the Naugatuck "Hoops" to score. The "Thunderstorm" won with a score of 12-0. In the final match up of the morning the team played the Griswold "Jets" and won again with a score of 10-2.
In the afternoon, the mighty "Thunderstorm" basketball team played the Ability Beyond Disability Special Olympics team from Bethel, Connecticut. This team gave the athletes on the "Thunderstorm" their biggest challenge of the tournament. At the end of the first period the score was 8-7 with Greater Middletown trailing by one point, at the end of the second period the same situation occurred with a score of 14-13 in favor of the Ability Beyond Disability team. The end of the 3rd period both teams were tied with a score of 20-20 and at the end of the fourth period the score was 29-26 in favor of the team from Bethel. The Ability Beyond Disability Special Olympics team eliminated the Greater Middletown Special Olympics basketball team the "Thunderstorm" from the rest of the tournament. The "Thunderstorm" team finished fourth and each member of the team received a fourth place ribbon.
The next event for the Greater Middletown Special Olympics will be the Special Olympics Connecticut Eastern Regional Games on Saturday, May 7, 2011 at the University of Hartford and Hartford Public High School in Hartford then the Special Olympics Connecticut State Summer Games June 10-12, 2011hosted by Southern Connecticut State University, Yale University in New Haven and the Hamden Hall School in Hamden.
The Greater Middletown Special Olympics is looking for potential athletes ages 8 & above who could benefit from the many athletic events of the Special Olympics. It serves athletes with intellectual disabilities ages 8 & above in a variety of well-coached Olympic type sports who reside in Cromwell, Durham, East Haddam, East Hampton, Haddam, Middlefield, Middletown, & Portland. Volunteers are needed to coach. For more information, please contact Special Olympics Connecticut at 1-877-660-6667, 1-800-443-6105 or online at www.soct.org
