Something special

MAT-SU — Wednesday was a special day for a group of Mat-Su students.

It was day to throw a Frisbee at a balloon, push a floor hockey puck down the gymnasium floor or even scoot around the gym on a four-wheeled dolly.

But more than that, Wednesday marked the chance for a group of students with special needs to interact with peers, get active, and most importantly, have fun.

More than 225 local elementary-aged students participated in the second annual Special Olympics floor hockey event at the AT&T Sports Center. Although the event lasted only about 90 minutes, organizers hope it opened the door to a lifetime of participation in sports and activities.

“This is kind of the beginning stages of getting them involved,” Dana Kerschion, a Wasilla Middle School teacher and event organizer, said.

Students from a dozen Mat-Su elementary schools played in floor hockey games and participated in a handful of activities that focused on specific skills, while giving the students a full range of activities to accommodate a broad spectrum of special needs.

“We tried to make sure that everybody could have something to do,” Chris Stewart, an adapted physical education teacher within the Mat-Su School District, said.

It was tabbed a floor hockey event, but the program gave students the chance to do more than just scrimmage. They practiced passing and shooting the floor hockey puck, and weaving their stick and puck through a maze of bright orange cones. Students tossed Frisbees at targets and raced across the gym floor on the four-wheeled dollies.

“We’re building skills so they’ll be able to participate in sports activities,” said Kelly Lytle, who works with families with special needs students in the Mat-Su School District.

With these skills, Lytle said, the goal is to build a foundation for the students to have fun and success with activities in the future.

That’s also the objective of Special Olympics Alaska.

“Our goal here is to introduce kids and families with and without disabilities to the world of Special Olympics and the world of sports, so at a young age they can develop motor skills, develop sports specific skills,” Special Olympics Alaska vice president Nicolle Egan said. “And as they get older they want to be Special Olympics athletes, train and compete here in Alaska or anywhere in the world.”

Thanks to the Special Olympics, people with disabilities can compete in athletic events as both a youth and an adult. The list of sports ranges from gymnastics to alpine skiing, from power lifting to floor hockey. Now with the work of the Mat-Su School District, students with special needs can start participating in sports at a very early age.

“It’s huge to get them started when they’re young, to see the different sports they can follow throughout their life,” said Lytle, who also noted the district’s Young Athlete program which involves those as young as pre-school age students in recreational activities.

As part of the Special Olympics Alaska Unified Sports Challenge, the floor hockey event teamed students who are with and without disabilities.

“One of the most important components of this is it involves kids without disabilities,” Egan said. “We’re building relationships in schools between kids who typically may not meet through academics. We’re bridging that gap.”

Organizers estimated about 50 percent of those who participated were students with special needs, while the other half were students without disabilities.

“We want our kids together,” Egan said. “We want these kids integrated into the school system, into sports.”

By getting the special needs students involved early and joining them with other students their age, organizers hope the process will be important to the social development and the confidence of those who participate.

“This is one of the few times all the kids get to be together,” Stewart said. “They get more comfortable, more confident, more socially involved.”

That follows with the goals of the district’s adaptive physical education program, which is in place to help all students succeed, he said.

“You create success and independence,” Stewart said. “That’s how I look at adaptive P.E. You’ve got students of all different ages and abilities. You try your best so everybody can participate.”

More than anything, organizers say it proves that regardless of disability, there is still opportunity for activity and recreation.

“I think programs like these are important to show our kids that they can participate in things like this and have as much fun as anybody else,” Tawny Buck, a parent of a special needs child at Larson Elementary said.

Buck said it also shows other families with special needs children that they are not alone.

“In your school maybe there’s only three or four kids, especially kids with high end needs,” Buck said. “But you come here and you realize it’s not just three of us. It’s like a full community. It’s really important to see that you’re not the only one.”

Special Olympics Alaska has proved to be an important part to the evolution of the district’s adaptive physical education program. The organization lends support to school districts across the state, often supplying equipment and other resources, and helped fund Wednesday’s event.

“Special Olympics has been awesome,” Lytle said. “They’ve provided our transportation, the (T-shirts), the equipment. They pay for any admission costs.”

Egan said school districts in areas such as Anchorage, Kodiak and the Mat-Su Valley have embraced these programs, but was particularly pleased with the work of the Mat-Su School District.

“Mat-Su has the largest and the strongest program,” Egan said.

In addition to the work of Special Olympics, about 25 volunteers and 75 staff members were there to help out. That list include participants of Next Step, a Mat-Su School District program which helps young adults with special needs transition to their adult life. Krystina Collins, a Special Olympian who is also part of the Next Step program, volunteered during the event.

“I love to help out,” the 22-year-old, who competes in Special Olympics events such as golf, swimming and cross country skiing, said. “I love to help all the kids out.”

Judging by the growth of this event during the first two years — about half the total of schools and students participated last year —organizers predict the need for at least a pair of floor hockey events next year.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.