The 19th annual North Section Basketball Tournament is set to be played March 1 – 3, 2013. The tournament will bring more than 600 athletes with varied developmental disabilities and delays together for a weekend of competition and camaraderie.

This is an outstanding event, and everyone is invited to help support and encourage the participants.

The Special Olympics Mission is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for individuals with developmentally disabilities by giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness; demonstrate courage; experience joy; and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendships with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community.

The benefits of participation in Special Olympics for people with developmental disabilities include improved physical fitness and motor skills, greater self-confidence, a more positive self-image, friendships, and increased family support. Special Olympics athletes carry these benefits with them into their daily lives at home, in the classroom, on the job and in the community. Families who participate become stronger as they learn a greater appreciation of the athlete’s talents. Community volunteers find out what good friends the athletes can be. And everyone learns more about the capabilities of people with developmental disabilities and other cognitive delays.

Special Olympics began in 1968 when Eunice Kennedy Shriver organized the First International Special Olympics Games at Soldier Field, in Chicago. The concept was born in the early 1960s when Shriver started a day camp for people with mental retardation (then regarded in that time period as acceptable terminology). She saw that these individuals were far more capable in sports and physical activities than many people thought. Since 1968, millions of children and adults with developmental disabilities have participated in Special Olympics.

To be eligible to participate in Special Olympics, athletes must be at least eight years old and identified by an agency or professional as having one of the following conditions: mental retardation, cognitive delays as measured by formal assessment, or significant learning or vocational problems due to cognitive delay that require or have required specially designed instruction.

Special Olympics provides year-round training and competition in 24 official sports. Special Olympics has developed and tested training programs that are outlines in a Sports Skills Guide for each sport. More than 140,000 qualified volunteer coaches train Special Olympics athletes.