On Saturday, March 4, 300 Special Olympics athletes arrived in Pleasanton for the annual East Bay Basketball Tournament. Teams from Solano, Hayward, Union City, Stanislaus, Oakland, Contra Costa, San Ramon, Mt Diablo joined the local Pleasanton T-RADD team by playing in six different divisions, medals were awarded to the winners of each division. Games were held on 11 courts at Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton Middle School and Harvest Park Middle School. This was the first tournament since 2020, just prior to the pandemic. The Pleasanton Rockets and RADD teams combined to form three T-RADD teams resulting in a Gold, Bronze and ribbons and several SKILLS contest winners.
Friends and family were joined by over 250 local volunteers who kept score, refereed, registration, officiated the skills contests and performed duties as Team Escorts, assisting the coaches and helping the teams. Several EMTs and nurses donated their time to provide medical services.
Special thanks go to Greg Thome, who organized over 40 basketball referees from the CYO, high school teams and others who joined in to officiate the games. Organized groups of volunteers came from the National Charity League of Pleasanton, Livermore, Walnut Creek, and Rolling Hills, Boys Team Charity from all over the East Bay, Young Mens Service League, students from Foothill and Amador Valley High Schools, and a large group of youth and leaders from the Danville Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Volunteer T-Shirts were given to each volunteer, thanks to the Amador Valley Athletic Boosters and MetCon for their donations.
The next large Special Olympics event in Pleasanton will be the annual track meet, currently planned for May, but yet to be confirmed: to be notified when volunteer registrations open, email: [email protected]
