HOUSTON – Special Olympics Texas and the Houston Independent School District are hosting district-wide field days for more than 2,500 students with intellectual disabilities Wednesday to Friday.
2015 is the third year for the event and it is getting bigger and better every year. There were cheers and smiles at Barnett Stadium Wednesday as the activities began.
Cheers and smiles at Barnett Stadium for the opening day of this special field day.
We have lots of students who are in wheelchairs and braces," said Sharon Cole-Braxton of the Office of Special Education Services. "We have students with visual impairment and they get to participate in athletics just like the other students."
Wednesday is dedicated to middle school students while Thursday is for elementary students and Friday is for high school students.
"(There is) tennis, soccer, basketball; it depends on the particular day," said Braxton-Cole. "We have flag football and we have track and field. We have over 2,400 students total for the three days."
For all the students it's more about fun and less about competition.
"Everybody gets a medal a ribbon and they get cheers regardless of how well they do," said Braxton-Cole.
New in 2015 is a future sports stars day on Thursday, which will include more than 400 children, ages two to seven, taking part in an innovative sports play tutorial to develop motor tracking and eye-hand coordination.
