ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. - The Bard College Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) hosted a Special Olympics day on Sunday, with guests from Astor Services for Children & Families in Rhinebeck and the Anderson Center for Autism in Staatsburg.
Twenty-two Bard student-athletes participated in the event, which was a SAAC initiative. Sunday's festivities were developed by SAAC and directed by Bard men's basketball coach/assistant athletic director Adam Turner.
This year for the first time, NCAA Div. III launched a partnership with Special Olympics, to foster a mutual learning experience Div. III student-athletes and Special Olympics athletes.
"We knew that NCAA Div. III had established a partnership with the Special Olympics," Turner said. "Also, one of the big initiatives for SAAC last year was to try to get the gym expanded or renovated. With that accomplished, SAAC decided to move on to a community service project. With the Div. III initiative happening, it just seemed like a perfect fit."
Six different stations were set up for the visitors: Basketball, soccer, lacrosse, volleyball, track & field, and athletic training. In small groups, student-athletes went through the fundamentals of each station, handed out awards and stickers, and enjoyed a lot of laughter and fun along the way.
In the Stevenson Gymnasium, Bard senior
Yonah Greenstein led the basketball station, leading the visitors in ball-handling drills, passing contests, and some shooting drills. Senior
Kim Larie led the soccer station, teaching visitors how to shoot and score and how to execute a header.
Senior
Jessica Philpott led the lacrosse station. She went over throwing and catching and shooting and scoring.
Also in the gym, senior
Nick Chan led the volleyball station. Visitors learned how to set and pass, using both hands, and how to hit the ball over the net for a kill.
Upstairs, in one of the squash courts, Bard track & field and cross country coach Fred Pavlich taught the visitors how to get over hurdles, how to run ladders, and how to throw a javelin.
In the athletic training room, former Bard athletic trainer Danielle Knapp showed visitors how to tape wrists and fingers, both for support and injury prevention.
This was the first Special Olympics day for Bard Athletics.
"We have a bunch of local facilities, and when I reached out to the directors of those programs about a Special Olympics day, we got a really enthusiastic response," Turner said. "SAAC was really into it, too, and we just felt that everyone was going to have a really fun day and that's exactly what happened."
Astor Services for Children & Families is a community based, non-profit organization that provides children's mental health services, child welfare services, and early childhood development programs. Astor serves children and families in New York State's Mid-Hudson Valley region and the Bronx.
The
Anderson Center for Autism is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing the highest quality programs possible for children and adults with autism and related developmental disabilities.
Both organizations are located within 16 miles of the Bard campus.
Click here to read more about the partnership between NCAA Div. III and the Special Olympics.
