While the Olympic athletes draw the majority of the media attention, what are the Special Olympic athletes up to? At Georgia State, the recently formed Special Olympics team gives kids the opportunity to follow their dreams and play the sports they love.
The Inclusive Digital Expression and Literacy, or IDEAL, Program’s Special Olympics basketball team was started up in August. The original members were students of the IDEAL Program. The team gives them the chance to practice their skills and take on other Special Olympics squads in matches.
I met up with Deonte Brown, a student in the IDEAL Program at Georgia State University, who is also a passionate basketball player.
The reason Deonte Brown wanted to join the Special Olympics Basketball Team was to spend more time with his and work hard at practice.
Brown represents the school as a member of the Special Olympics team’s basketball squad. So what does a typical week look like for a player?
When the team is practicing, Brown’s role may also include filming, something that is quite common amongst sports teams around the country.
The team goes to the gym every week on Friday to practice and learn different basketball drills. Sometimes, they challenge other teams to a match and are able to put their hard work on the practice court to good use.
For Brown, it is all about hard work. The team still has much to improve on and can achieve that by “going to practice and working as a team.” As the team goes forward, Brown hopes the communication on the floor will only get better.
