Young Athletes Program Plunges Forward at Tabor

The Special Olympics Young Athletes Program, now in its second year at Tabor Academy, brings students and cognitively impaired children ages 2-7 together to work on “fundamental skills that will eventually enable them to partake in some sports,” said Tim Cleary, Sophomore Class Dean at Tabor.

The program, which meets from 2:00 – 3:00 pm on Sunday afternoons in the Fish Center for Health and Athletics, is “facilitated, designed, and implemented by students,” Cleary said.

Students comprise the Board of Directors, which runs various events and fundraisers, and students volunteer their time with the young athletes who make the trip to Marion each week.

“There’s not a lot of options near here, especially for young athletes,” said Campbell Donley, a senior and a member of the Board of Directors. “We have people who will drive an hour just to come because it’s not really offered in [their] area.”

The Young Athletes Program is free to participants. Special Olympics Massachusetts organizes – and Tabor Academy hosts – fundraising events like a Field Day in the spring and a Polar Plunge in the winter.

“Things like the Polar Plunge raise money so we can take more athletes in,” said Annalisa Souza, a junior. Souza also happened to be the top fundraiser at this year’s plunge, which was held January 22 at Silvershell Beach.

“As a group, we raised a little over twelve thousand dollars,” said Leah Wolff, a junior, “so that helps like six or seven kids do completely free sports for an entire year.”

This is also the second year that Tabor is running its “R-word Campaign.”

“Last year … we had the whole student body and a lot of parents and other faculty members take part and sign the pledge to … stop using the word ‘retarded,’” said Cleary, “because it’s an ugly word and it’s sort of over-used and inappropriately used across the board.”

Tabor kicked off its R-word Campaign last Sunday and already had between 60 and 70 signatures by the time the young athletes began showing up for their afternoon activities.

By Deina Zartman

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