Going for Their Personal Best

Close to 300 Special Olympics athletes are expected to compete for medals in the spring regional games being held at on Sunday.

The event is one of six tournaments that the Special Olympics Ventura County chapter hosts every year.

Bocce, similar to lawn bowling, will be one of the most anticipated sports on Sunday. “It’s fairly new, since it just debuted last year. So there’s a lot of excitement around it,” said Peggi Preston, Special Olympics regional director for Ventura County.

The athletes, whose ages range from 20 to 30-years-old, will also compete in track and field events, which include long jump, shot put and various sprint races, said Preston.

The wheelchair races will also be electrifying to watch, according to Jan Radnoti, regional sports manager. Wheelchair-bound athletes will compete for medals in the softball throw, the 50-meter race and the 100-meter race.

Radnoti anticipates that the athlete participation to be divided almost equally between the two main competitions. “We are expecting over 100 athletes to compete in the bocce, so we have set up seven courts for that and about the same number for the track events,” she said.

There will be five to ten athletes from Agoura Hills competing in bocce, according to Preston. The rest are from Ventura and the surrounding Conejo Valley.

Since Eunice Kennedy Shriver organized the first international Special Olympics in 1968, thousands of athletes with intellectual disabilities have competed from the school level to the international level.

“It’s really a big deal, how positive the impact of this event is on the lives of these athletes,” said Radnoti.

Athletes train an average of once a week during the months leading up to the regional games, according to Radnoti. They work with volunteer coaches who go through a rigorous training and background screening program set in place by Special Olympics Southern California, she said.

In the true essence of cross training, the athletes prepare for various sports throughout the year. The summer regional games is considered the “high point” among the six tournaments. “During the two-day event at Cal State Long Beach, we have everything from aquatics to golf,” said Preston. 

Highly motivated and high-functioning athletes usually start out at the school level before progressing to the regional, national and international games.“The school games just open many doors for them," said Radnoti.

“We try to do something new at every event, every year, to make it worthwhile and exciting for the athletes and their families,” Preston said.

The release of the doves will kick off the opening ceremonies on Sunday, which will begin promptly at 9 am on the Agoura High grounds.

*For more information, please visit www.sosc.org/ventura or email jradnoti@sosc.org.