Berry Special Olympics
Invitational Soccer Tournament

2^nd Annual Berry Special Olympics Soccer Invitational
Special Olympic Soccer teams will again come to Troy Memorial Stadium on Saturday June 1 with games starting at 9:00 am.  Approximately 8-10 teams will compete in this years tourney.  Volunteers are needed for timekeeping, officiating, scorekeeping, announcing, music, registration, lunches and lining fields. 

Community Partnership Events:  Individuals with and without disabilities will team up to compete in several Strawberry Festival recreational events.  These include Bed Races Bike Tour, Coed Softball Tourney, Beach Volleyball, Basketball, Road Adventure, Tennis Shootout, 2K Race, golf scramble and Tug of War

Sponsors:  People’s Savings Bank and Summit Insurance are the official sponsors of “Berry Special Olympics”.  We are extremely excited about our sponsors and the support they provide financially and with volunteers.  This is impossible without them.  Their sponsorship covers meals, awards, t-shirts and equipment rental for the soccer invitational and entry fees and t-shirts for the partnership events.

The Adult Recreation and Special Olympics Program is a year round community recreation and sport program for youth and adults with disabilities who live in Miami County.  Programs are supported by the Miami County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities.  Within this department individuals with disabilities can gain valuable experiences in two areas: recreation and sports.

Recreation: Our program provides year round community recreation and leisure activities for adults with disabilities ages 18 and older.  Participants have an opportunity to experience activities that are adventurous in nature such as snow skiing, water skiing, rock climbing, camping, kayaking, fly fishing and hiking or those that are social in nature such as parties, dances and sporting events.  With this range of activities, participants can choose from a variety of opportunities to meet their interests and ability levels. 

Special Olympic Sports: Miami County offers a year round state accredited team and individuals sports program for athletes with disabilities ages 8 and older.  Eight sports are offered in Miami County including aquatics, basketball, bowling, golf, roller skating, soccer, softball and volleyball.  There are three types of teams within Miami County Special Olympics: individual skills, traditional and unified.  Individual skill teams focus on the fundamentals of the sport and are designed for less experienced athletes. These skill athletes do not play games however do compete at State Skill Test Competitions.   Traditional teams are comprised of all Special Olympic athletes who train and compete at the local, area and state levels.  Finally, Unified teams include a combination of Special Olympians and athletes without disabilities called Unified Partners.  We have Unified teams in all sports offered in Miami County.  Our softball and volleyball teams currently compete in traditional recreation leagues offered by the Troy Recreation Department.

History of Strawberry Festival Involvement:
In 2001, the Adult Recreation and Special Olympics Program in cooperation with the Troy Strawberry Festival Committee and sponsorship from Dayton Power and Light and Peoples Savings Bank developed a concept called “Berry Special Olympics”.  This concept included two components that allowed people with disabilities the opportunity to actively participate in the festival.  First, a soccer invitational tournament for Special Olympic teams from Ohio was hosted on Saturday of festival weekend at Troy Memorial Stadium.  Teams from Greene, Auglaize, Darke and Miami County competed in this inaugural tournament.  Along with the soccer tournament individuals with and without disabilities teamed up to enter in several other festival events including the bed races, bike tour, bowling tournament, 2K run, pie eating contest, tug of war, co-ed softball tournament, beach volleyball tourney and the night golf scramble.  A total of 195 individuals with and without disabilities participated in these events highlighted by a third place finish in the bed races and winning the Spirit Award in the Tug of War Competition. 

Obviously, this undertaking would not have been possible without tremendous volunteer and community support.  Dayton Power and Light and Peoples Savings banks provided approximately 40 volunteers to assist with the soccer invitational.  Another 60 volunteers teamed up to compete in the other festival related events.  This was such a positive experience for everyone that it will now become an annual event. 

Contact Information:
Tom Helbig:  Berry Special Olympics Chairperson, Riverside of Miami County Recreation Manager @ 339-8313 ext. 320 or tomh@riversidemrdd.org

Kim Beard:  Riverside of Miami County Recreation Assistant @ 339-8313 ext. 341 or kimb@riversidemrdd.org

Matt Shanley:  Riverside of Miami County Recreation Assistant @ 339-8313 ext. 341 or matts@riversidemrdd.org

Tom Helbig
Berry Special Olympics Chairman

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