Special Olympics Basketball Tournament held in Pleasanton.

Special Olympics Basketball Tournament held in Pleasanton.

Pleasanton’s T-RADD teams receive Silver & Bronze medals, and skill competition participants won 6 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze.

On Saturday, March 23, 300 Special Olympics athletes arrived in Pleasanton for the annual East Bay Basketball Tournament. Teams from Solano, Hayward, Union City, Stanislaus, Oakland, Contra Costa, San Ramon, Mt Diablo joined the local Pleasanton T-RADD team by playing in six different divisions, medals were awarded to the winners of each division.

Friends and family were joined by over 300 local volunteers who kept score, refereed, served lunch, officiated the skills contests and performed duties as Team Escorts, assisting the coaches and helping the teams. Several EMTs and nurses donated their time to provide medical services.

Thanks to Greg Thome, who organized over 40 basketball referees from the CYO, high school teams and others who joined in to officiate the games. Organized groups of volunteers came from the National Charity League of Pleasanton, Livermore, Walnut Creek, and Rolling Hills, Boys Team Charity from all over the East Bay, Young Mens Service League, students from Foothill and Amador Valley High Schools.

Volunteer T-Shirts were given to each volunteer, thanks to the Amador Valley Athletic Boosters and MetCon for their donations.

The next large Special Olympics event in Pleasanton will be the annual track meet, scheduled for Saturday, May 18. This event will be expanded to include Swimming and Tennis. These events have been hosted by the Amador Valley Athletic Boosters for the past twenty years.

If you would like to volunteer, email: kenmano@comcast.net