MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College Athletic Department hosted a Sports Extravaganza with the local Special Olympic athletes Sunday afternoon (Dec. 4) in the Dyson Baudo Recreation Center. [Photo Gallery]

Sponsored by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, nearly 40 Special Olympians participated in a variety of activities with athletes from each of the college's athletic teams.

Each Special Olympian received a T-shirt with the day's slogan “Learning from Each Other.”

“I was impressed by the eagerness of our athletes to be enthusiastic and interactive hosts,” said Marietta College Director of Athletics Larry Hiser. “It was truly a moving experience for me to watch our athletes work with the Special Olympians.”

Sunday's event was the first for Marietta College as part of the NCAA Division III national community-service initiative. After researching potential organizations to partner with, the Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee determined that the Special Olympics are the best fit for Division III.
The purpose of the partnership is to improve the lives of Special Olympians through their involvement with Division III student-athletes and to foster a mutual learning experience between Division III student-athletes and Special Olympic athletes.

“Today was a fantastic beginning to what we hope becomes a long-running partnership with the Special Olympics,” said Marietta Student-Athlete Advisory Committee Advisor Wendy Thieman.

The extravaganza began with students from the College's Department of Sports Medicine leading the athletes through a proper warm-up. Various stations of different activities followed the warm-up.

The college athletes worked with the Special Olympians on skills in basketball, football, soccer, baseball/softball, track and field, rowing, volleyball and cheer and dance.

Marietta head women's rowing coach Kelly Harris, who captured the day's events on camera, summed up the event best. “As I reviewed the photos, I noticed that everyone was smiling; not because they were posing, but because everyone was having such a good time!”

As part of this growing partnership, athletes from the Special Olympics will be serving as honorary team managers for the Marietta College men's and women's basketball teams. Additional events are being planned for the spring semester.