The Special Olympics Unified Sports Pickleball Day report
On May 2, 2024, the Unified Special Olympics program held a Pickleball Day at Frontier Park in Twin Falls. Leona King once again did a wonderful job organizing participants and volunteers to make a special event for everyone, despite the unexpected cold weather that can still catch us by surprise here in Idaho. As a result, not all of the scheduled schools participated, but that didn’t stop the participants from having a great time.
Unified Special Olympics includes students with and without an intellectual disability coming together to play a team sport and help to create lasting relationships along the way. The pickleball day certainly proved that to be true.
Photo of Leona King, Special Olympics event organizer with Laurie Hall, Canyon Ridge School coordinator
What the kids were saying after playing…
“I had a blast!”
“I want to learn more about pickleball”
“I want to play pickleball this summer”
“I want to do this again next year”
From Leona; “The smiles on the kid’s faces are the reason I continue to do this. What can I say – I love them.”
The 18-21 program at CRHS also made small gifts to thank the volunteers.
Lunch was served after play and everyone looked forward to the next event! If you couldn’t attend this year, as a participant or volunteer, please try to do so next year and see how rewarding it is.
