For more than 30 years, DePauw University has annually hosted the Special Olympics Indiana women’s state basketball tournament. The tradition started in 1971 and this year’s tournament took place in the Neal Fieldhouse this past weekend.
This year there were around 30 teams that competed over the two days. Kathy Umana, vice president of service and philanthropy for Panhellenic Association, said the event was a success. “We had all of the teams come and we had a good turnout for each game,” Umana said. “People were very energetic and at the end you could see everyone was smiling.”
Megan Mannering, assistant track and field coach, said the event came together with help from a lot of organizations on campus. Groups such as Panhellenic Association, Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), the football team and administrators help run the event.
“The administration really works on the setup of the event, but students run most of it from volunteer sign-in to commentating games,” Mannering said.
Junior Kylee Rippy took part in the event by cheering on the teams. “It’s so much fun to cheer on anyone, but it’s especially cool to see the looks on their faces and that they aren’t alone,” Rippy said.
Mannering said the tradition of both the DePauw women’s basketball team itself and the team hosting this tournament is part of what makes the event a success. “Our women’s basketball team is so good and there’s such a tradition there that hosting the Special Olympics women’s basketball tournament is so exciting,” Mannering said. “It’s just a cool connection that makes the event much more special.”
Umana said the event is enjoyable because volunteers can see the result of their hard work. “We all do philanthropy but a lot of the time we don’t get to see the impact,” Umana said, “so something like Special Olympics allows us to see the smiles on the player’s faces because they saw a random group of people cheering them on.”
