Special Olympics to be hosted by FAHS

January 18, 2010 • Amber Foerster  
Filed under Local, News

Here at Fort High, many people are volunteering to help with the upcoming Special Olympics basketball tournament being hosted at FAHS.

This tournament will be held at the high school hosting 33 teams from around the state. Many kids in high school help with the tournament, including Seniors Chris Scherer and Tommy Johnson, who are coaching their own team, the Fort Atkinson Hawkeyes.

“Tommy and I were sitting in class one day and an announcement for coaching a Special Olympics basketball team was said. We looked at each other and we decided we would coach a team,” Scherer said. “Its completely volunteer we don’t get paid at all. We volunteer to coach because it is a really rewarding experience and we just like to help and meet new people.”

The tournament in Fort has begun to grow bigger and bigger by the year; it started from a relatively small number of 11 and now has multiplied to 33 different teams, making opportunities for volunteering greater.

“I have been reffing for the tournament. It is really easy. You just call travels and fouls. Its fun and it’s a great experience,” Senior Ashley Boos said.

In the Special Olympics, all athletes receive ribbons, but they also award four most valuable player awards, ties in honor of Bubolz, a former Special Olympics basketball coach, who never wore a tie to anything but coaching for the Fort Atkinson Special Olympics games.

This year, the Special Olympics Basketball Tournament will be held in honor of Bubolz.  It will be the 4th Annual Kurt Bubolz Memorial Basketball Tournament.  Coach Bubolz died an unexpected death at the age of 32. In memory of their father, every year Bubolz’s daughters go out on the court and help in the saying of the Special Olympic Athlete quote: “Let me win. But if I can not win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

The Special Olympics as an organization hosts nearly 10,000 athletes with cognitive disabilities in 19 different sports. People of all ages can volunteer for coaching spots, or aid in other activities.

“I coach Wisconsin’s National Olympics team; it is completely a volunteer position. I volunteer because I love working with athletes, and they always have a positive attitude win or lose,” Coach Scott Galston said.

To learn more about volunteering at the Special Olympics, one can visit http://www.specialolympicswisconsin.org/.

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