12 swimmers, 6 basketball teams, 3 tennis players, and 2 individual skills athletes represented Philadelphia at the 2017 Eastern Spring Sectional on Saturday, May 6th at Kutztown University. They joined athletes from Area P, Bethlehem City, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Columbia/Montour, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Northumberland/Snyder, Montgomery, and Schuylkill. The total number of athletes at this event was 1150 across six different sports!  With the theme of “Under the Big Top” our athletes performed on the court and in the pool. Although there weren’t any elephants or tigers, our athletes gave wonderful performances in each of their events. 

Things got started at 9:00 am with clouds looming overhead signaling a rainy day, but the rain held off, even though it pushed Opening Ceremonies indoors. Although everyone was indoors for Opening Ceremonies, the gymnasium was loud with excitement. Rebecca Konen from KutzTones, Kutztown University’s a cappella group sang the national anthem. Kutztown University’s Cheerleading team escorted athletes during the Parade of Athletes. Kutztown University President, Dr. Kenneth Hawkinson, spoke words of encouragement and pride that his school hosts the Eastern Spring Sectionals before wishing athletes the best of luck. Kutztown Dance Team performed for our athletes and it got the crowd energized for the competition that would soon follow. After their performance, the games were declared open and everyone scattered to see what the big top had in store!

After preliminary competitions, our basketball teams found out their course – and it gave them a welcomed challenge. In their final games, they were able to show off the skills they had been working on and captured a spot on the podium. In the pool, there were some close races as our athletes sprinted down the pool and paced themselves in the longer distances. On the tennis courts, one of our athletes showed off their individual skills in the forehand volley, backhand volley, forehand groundstroke, backhand groundstroke, serve – deuce court, serve ad court, and alternating strokes with movement. 

#SOPASpringEast

Results

Aquatics

Basketball

Individual Skills

Jason Sobrinno

Teams

Tennis

INDIVIDUAL SKILLS

Shawn Moton

Doubles

Elijah Williams & Christopher Newton

On June 14, 2013 at the Penn State Conference Center Hotel in State College, the first round of athletes were selected to represent Team Pennsylvania in the 2014 Special Olympics USA National Games. Six Philly Athletes Selected for 2014 USA National Games as well as two basketball teams will be representing Team Pennsylvania at the National Games with another two individual athletes being selected as alternates.

Philly Athletes Selected for 2014 USA National Games:

• James Barbour– Aquatics
• Jackie Lutts– Athletics
• Tamika Newkirk– Athletics
• Michael Walker– Athletics
• Philadelphia Panthers- Basketball
• Philadelphia Phlams- Basketball
• Sharon Quarles– Aquatics Alternate
• Wesley Hicks– Athletics Alternate

 Athletes were selected by a random draw from those who won a gold medal at the 2013 Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games held from June 7-9, 2013 at Pennsylvania State University. The first round of athletes, partners and alternates were selected in the sports of Aquatics, Athletics, Bowling, Golf, Artistic Gymnastics, Tennis, Basketball (Full-Court Teams), and Softball (Traditional and Unified Sports Teams).

Special Olympic Philadelphia athletes still have a chance to qualify for the 2014 National Games which will be held in New Jersey. The remaining 96 spots on Team Pennsylvania will be decided after athletes compete at the 2013 Special Olympics Pennsylvania Fall Festival at Villanova University on November 1-3, 2013. Athletes will be selected from the sports of Bocce, Powerlifting, 5 v 5 Soccer (Traditional and Unified Teams), and Volleyball (Traditional). Congratulations, Team Philly!

Philly athletes who will head to Summer Games

Our athletes have been training hard and now is their time to shine at the annual Summer Games! This Thursday, 55 Special Olympics Philly athletes head to Summer Games in State College. Summer Games will take place between Thursday, June 6th and Saturday, June 8th. The Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games are held each year at Penn State University in State College.  The event brings together over 2,000 athletes and 750 coaches from across the state.  Our largest event of the year, Summer Games features three days of intense competition in aquatics, athletics, basketball, bowling, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, softball and tennis.  Every race, every game, every competition held at Summer Games represents many weeks of training, preparation and dedication on the part of our athletes, coaches and volunteers. Our Philadelphia athletes will compete for the gold in bowling, track & field, basketball and aquatics.

The Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games features more than two thousand athletes and seven hundred and fifty coaches from across the Commonwealth competing in three days of intense competition. This year’s Summer Games is a qualifying event for the Special Olympics USA Games, taking place June 14-21st, 2014 in New Jersey. 

Official results will be available online following the conclusion of the games. Good luck Team Philly!

To learn more about the Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games, please click here.