Special Olympics is an organization designed to allow disabled athletes to compete in different events at different levels. These events span from local competitions, going all the way to international competitions. Rolla High School’s Special Olympics team has already gone through one competition, and some are ready to move onto the next level.

“We started with bowling this fall; the kids had practice every Friday until we went to the tournament in October at Fort Leonard Wood. Those people who won a gold or silver medal at that competition automatically get to go to St. Charles where the districts are. That competition is at the end of November, and it lasts for three days basically, we leave here on Friday and we get back on Sunday. The kids get to stay hotels, and they have a dance and all that, so it’s pretty exciting,” Life Skills teacher Kadi Haslag said.

For the team, just getting the opportunity to go to districts is exciting in itself, but winning would mean moving on to the statewide competition.

“Those people who got gold or silver at districts will be eligible to go to state, which will be in Columbia, which I think it is the last week of May or first week of June, so then they’ll get to compete in the state tournament,” Haslag said. “Now we were lucky enough, because I put in a wish list of kids that didn’t quite get gold or silver, so they’re going to let a few others go to the district, but if they don’t get gold or silver they absolutely can’t go to state.”

The competitions don’t end in the fall and winter months though. Once spring comes around, there are more events to be competed in.

“In the spring, we’ll have track and field and so the kids will get to compete in that, and those who win a gold or silver metal there, will go right to states, because we don’t have a district for track and field,” Haslag said

A participant could be eligible in both events – bowling, and track and field – but at state level, they can only compete in one event.

“If they were eligible for bowling, and track, they will have to choose which sport they want to compete in at the state level. [At state competitions] there are athletes from all over the state,” Haslag said. “It’s just so awesome to be there. It’s just amazing.”

While Special Olympics do compete in competitions throughout the year, the competitions aren’t the only activities that Special Olympics partake in.

“This fall, we had the Fort Leonard Wood soldiers put on a bocce game for the kids, not kids from Rolla, but towns around in the central area,” Haslag said. “We got to go to Fort Leonard Wood for a day, and they taught our kids how to play bocce, which is almost like lawn bowling, or kind of like horse shoes. So, they got to go for the whole day and spend the whole day with the soldiers, and they fed them a fabulous lunch, and they were just so nice and everything. It’s just such a good opportunity.”

There are also opportunities for other kids, such as leadership kids to be able to travel with an athlete from Special Olympics to various conferences.

“I haven’t done any kids this year, but sometimes I take kids to participate in leadership conferences. They are having one this fall, but I’m not going to have any students, but usually what I do is I pick an athlete, and I pick a regular ed student, and take them both to that conference. We’ll probably get involved again next year, but there was just other things going on at the time, so it just didn’t work out this year,” Haslag said.

Special Olympics don’t just end with districts or state level, it’s an international event.

”There’s lots of opportunities, and of course we have the national games and then the world games, so if they want to go further they could. And really there are all kinds of sports; I think there is like 27 sports. We’ve had the world games in China before, I mean it’s all over the world,” Haslag said.

Getting the athletes ready for districts in St. Charles is next on the list.

“We have 13 athletes from the high school that were eligible to go, and I’ve also started teams at the other schools in Rolla. The Junior High has a team also that will participate in districts, I think they have eight on that qualify, so it’s pretty exciting,” Haslag said. “We take a bus for the weekend and there are lots of other things that they can be involved in that the other kids can be involved in, that a lot of times my kids don’t get to do, so it’s a good opportunity for them to be so ‘normal’.”