Neepawa youth supports Special Olympics

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Published on Friday, March 30, 2018

Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner & Press

North Dakota’s Special Olympics basketball program has a special connection to Neepawa. On Mar. 9-10, Minot State University (MSU) hosted the Special Olympics North Dakota (SOND) Basketball Tournament. This years event in Minot featured over 500 athletes participating in either adult and youth divisions and a grand total of 32 teams involved. One of the teams was the Minot Beavers, who are coached by Shelby Gillies of Neepawa.

Gillies, who is currently a junior at MSU, has been working with some of these athletes for the past three years, through the University’s Disability Services program called ASTEP. For two of those years, she’s served as either an assistant or head coach for basketball.

In an interview with the Banner & Press, Gillies noted that it is it’s extremely fulfilling to be involved with this endeavour.

“It is always awesome to see the athletes having so much fun. They’re excited to participate in the tournament. Leading up to the tournament, we practiced for an hour, twice a week for seven weeks and attended the district tournament. It is exciting for [the coaches and volunteers], because the athletes, they are always smiling, always so happy. They’re excited about what they’ve accomplished and for the chance to do well, potentially win! And they should be, because they have put in a lot of time and practice to get there.”

While these players still go into the tournament with that competitive fire burning inside them, these games are about much more than just winning. Gillies noted that the participants cheer one another on and celebrate their accomplishments; a level of sportsmanship that many other sports programs could, perhaps, take a lesson from.

“They truly embrace the motto of the Special Olympics: ‘Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.’” noted Gillies.