In what one tenured Special Olympics employee called, “The coolest thing I’ve seen in quite some time,” members of the East Bay community of Alamo gathered at Mauzy School for a Young Athlete Day. Days like this are part of our Young Athletes Program (YAP).
About 15 students from nearby Stone Valley Middle School volunteered at the Young Athletes Day along with parents, the Contra Costa County Office of Education and other community members in attendance. About 40 special education preschool-aged students from Mauzy School enjoyed sports stations in an introduction to Special Olympics Northern California.
Some Mauzy students at the event do not get the opportunity to travel to other Special Olympics programs or interact on a regular basis with other parts of the community and certainly not with middle school students, which made this Young Athletes Day extraordinary. Special Olympics Northern California and the Stone Valley students – and the Contra Costa County Office of Education – put on a bit of a traveling road show by bringing the Young Athlete Day to Mauzy’s campus in Alamo. The day featured stations where the Mauzy students could bowl, run, play soccer, basketball or baseball.
One of the highlights – and a very unique one at that – was that the Mauzy teachers put together a sensory hallway. They took a big, long hallway at the school and filled it with lights, streamers and different things to touch. The best part was a bubble-wrap lined floor! As the young students walked or rolled in their wheelchairs, they got to feel and hear the bubble wrap pop! Every so often, the teachers would replace the bubble wrap so it was fresh for another group of students.
One of our Special Olympics employees described the day this way:
“The thing that stood out the most for me about the Young Athletes Day was the community coming together to help with the event. There were adult volunteers there to push wheelchairs and students from the local middle school to run the stations. Everyone was super supportive of the cause.”
Thank you to the Contra Costa Office of Education, Mauzy students, families, teachers and our student volunteers for making this day such an exceptional Young Athletes Day!