Baler Gifted Games becomes county-wide event for disabled
student-athletes
The cheers as the athletes ran past the stands at Andy Hardin
Field last Friday rivaled anything heard during a Friday night
football game at San Benito High School. But the supportive crowd,
which filled the bleachers from end to end, wasn’t just yelling for
one side. They cheered for all competitors
– and that was the point.
The fourth annual Baler Gifted Games, an event that allows young
people with disabilities a chance to compete in games and sporting
events at San Benito High School, this year became a one-day
county-wide gathering that attracted approximately 75 participants
of various ages.
Baler Gifted Games becomes county-wide event for disabled student-athletes
The cheers as the athletes ran past the stands at Andy Hardin Field last Friday rivaled anything heard during a Friday night football game at San Benito High School. But the supportive crowd, which filled the bleachers from end to end, wasn’t just yelling for one side. They cheered for all competitors – and that was the point.
The fourth annual Baler Gifted Games, an event that allows young people with disabilities a chance to compete in games and sporting events at San Benito High School, this year became a one-day county-wide gathering that attracted approximately 75 participants of various ages.
“This is way cool,” SBHS life skills teacher and Gifted Games organizer Mona Trevino told Baler athletic trainer and teacher Dave Tari as the pair surveyed the scene on a warm, cloudless spring morning.
“This is football game-like,” Tari said with awe, pointing to his teaching colleagues who brought students from their chemistry, earth science, English, physical education and history classes to cheer on the athletes.
In previous years, the Gifted Games was a small, three-day event that allowed high school students of various developmental levels to compete against one another in track-and-field events and other games modified for their disabilities. This year, however, Trevino, Tari, life skills teacher Tania DeLeon and others decided to make it a larger event by inviting special education students from all K-12 schools in the county to participate.
“It’s way more than I could have dreamed of,” Trevino said. “You plan something for so long and to see what I saw, it was like a dream come true.”
Organizers estimated that nearly 2,000 people attended the event, which began with County Superintendent of Schools Mike Sanchez and SBHS Principal Krystal Lomanto welcoming the crowds and the athletes.
“Let the games begin!” Lomanto shouted as the crowd cheered.
All competitors were encouraged to make a lap around the stadium’s track. Some ran by themselves, some were pushed in wheelchairs, and sight-impaired students jogged alongside SBHS students who volunteered for the event.
As each participant neared the finish line, the crowd erupted in applause, coaxing smiles out of the runners and enthusiastic clapping from parents, teachers and others watching the event.
“The parents of the participants were overwhelmed that their kids could have this one day of glory,” Trevino said. “That’s all we wanted. They don’t get to be a track star or football player. It was their opportunity to shine.”
Events included a mile-run, the long jump, 50- and 100-meter dashes, wheelchair races, and the turbo-jav and softball throw.
Eighth-graders from Sacred Heart School spent most of the day at the event, working alongside Tari’s sports medicine students to record the results of each event and cheer on the athletes.
Since the Special Olympics was held in Salinas during Spring Break this year and it would have been cost-prohibitive to bus students to the event, Trevino said the expanded Gifted Games “allowed our community to participate in something that our kids deserve.”
Debbie Briber, an aide for a seventh-grader at Spring Grove School, called the event “awesome” and credited the support offered by San Benito High School teachers, students and administrators. “It feels like it’s been going on for awhile.”
Gareth McFall, an SBHS senior and sports medicine student, said the event was the culmination of nine months of planning.
“We first talked about it on the second day of school,” he said. “Basically, the whole year has been spent training for this.”
The outpouring of support for the athletes was not lost on McFall, who said the huge crowd helped pump up the participants, most of whom wore large smiles on their faces as they competed.
“They all have one thing in mind: to do their best,” he said.
Trevino said that the SBHS students whose teachers brought them to the Gifted Games were not just supportive, but respectful.
“You could tell they really wanted to be here,” she said. “They were just excited to help out and be a part of the event.”
McFall, despite being involved with the planning of the Gifted Games, said he was nonetheless surprised by the turnout. What was not surprising, however, was the impact the event had on everyone involved, he noted.
“These kids always get counted out,” McFall said of the athletes. “It’s great that this event gives them an opportunity to show what they can do. To say I was able to help out and be a part of it was good enough for me.”
Trevino said she hopes the Gifted Games will continue to expand next year, with more participants. Dozens of donors, including local businesses and individuals, contributed to the event’s success.
“This is just a great opportunity for everyone,” she told the crowd. “We hope it can continue.”
