Three McDonough County bowlers advance to sectional Special Olympics
MACOMB — McDonough County Special Recreation Association is participating in the Special Olympics bowling with 10 bowlers being brought to the Regional Special Olympics, competing in Moline with three of the 10 receiving gold in their division.
Matt Fletcher, Sarah Topel and Kim Schenck will advance to the sectionals in the region in Moline on October 30. If they receive gold again in the sectionals, they will advance to the state competition in Peoria on Dec. 3.
“They did a great job, for some it was the first time competing, but they all did a very good job at it,” Julie Eggleston, MCSRA Program Supervisor said.
Eggleston says they will continue to practice with a combined program called, “Bowling Buddies.”
“It's a nice program for those that want to bowl, but not compete, and for those who want to bowl with their friends. At the same time, it creates a nice social atmosphere for everyone,” she said. “Now that we only have three still advancing and practicing, the Bowling Buddies option is still available until December.
MCSRA's Special Olympics basketball has changed this year. This year the group will be offering independent skills, and not a team support.
“Some athletes are getting a little older, not as agile, but still want to play,” Eggleston said. “There are beginners who want to play, but need a lot of skill development. This will be an individual skill basketball where we will be working on those with skills throughout the season. We'll be doing that instead of playing games. We will get still get to go to regionals at the beginning of February in Jacksonville, we'll still be able to socialize, compete, have fun with others.”
MCSRA just finished a “Calling all Chefs” event in October, there will be two more events on Nov. 7 and Dec. 5. The SRA group cooks once a month with the WIU dietetics department. The WIU students help the MCSRA students create different recipes. This also helps the WIU students, as they need experience working with others with disabilities.
The MCSRA group will have a float in the WIU homecoming parade, and will be attending their first overnight camping trip in a cabin at Camp Courageous in Monticello, Iowa, Nov. 4 and 5. Holiday shopping and lunch will be held Nov. 20. The group will be going to Quincy. A ceramics class for MCSRA will be held on Nov. 29, where they will be creating holiday decorations with the Macomb Park District's Ceramic Studio. A holiday party will be held Dec. 9.
MCSRA also participated in a program at Western Illinois University (WIU) called, “Recreation for all, disabled athlete action,” which happened last month.
“It was a collaboration between a lot of different agencies: MCSRA, Recreation, Parks and Tourism department (RPTA), WIU,” Eggleston said.
According to Eggleston, Dr Cindy Piletic, of the RPTA department had a class about adaptive sports and recreation in the spring semester. Her class created a program plan, did research and came up with an equipment list and everything in the spring. In the fall the students put it in to action, even though they were not required to, and some had even graduated. Many came back to help run last month's event.
“It was exciting to see them so committed and wanting this to be successful,” she said.
“The event provided two hours of adaptive sports experiences. It allowed the WIU campus and the Macomb community to experience and be able to see what adaptive sports is all about,” she said. “IT provided opportunities for students and the public to be able to come and see what playing different kinds of sports – sitting volleyball, wheelchair basketball, etc was all about.”
Altogether there were approximately 75 individuals from campus and the community who attended.
This article originally appeared on The McDonough County Voice: Three McDonough County bowlers advance to sectional Special Olympics
