Special Olympics tune-up tournament at NHS Saturday

Submitted photo Bethany Mills, left, and Amanda Gilbert guard an oppossing player during Saturday's Special Olympics tournament at Nevada High School.

Nevada Daily Mail

Nevada athletes walked away with four first place and one second place finish Saturday at a Special Olympics basketball tournament held at Nevada High School.

Bonnie Franklin, the coordinator for Nevada's program and one of the coaches, said Saturday the tournament is held to help the athletes get ready for the Regional Tournament later this spring.

Ralph Pokorny/Daily Mail Back row, volunteer officals for the tournament, Chris Holcomb, Nevada Middle School assistant principal; Blake Howarath, freshman boys basketball coach; and Shawn Gray, NHS head boys basketball coach, pose with Special Olympian Dalton Thomas Saturday morning during a break in the competition.

Franklin said that the tournament could not have been held without many volunteers and donations from local business. Unfortunately, she said one of their long-time volunteers, Debbie Smith, was unable to help due to recent cancer diagnosis.

"She used to travel with us to tournaments," Franklin said, adding the Nevada teams were dedicating their games Saturday to Smith.

"It's great to have their support," Bill Drake, Smith's husband said.

Left, Cameron Smith, Kendra Conner and Emily Simrell, with the ball, during one of the games Saturday. Submitted photo

Drake has also been a long-time volunteer with the area Special Olympic program, often coaching one of the teams and this year refereeing.

Both of Nevada's 5-on-5 basketball teams placed first in its division and a 3-on-3 team placed first and a second team garnered a second place finish. Nevada also picked up a first place in the team skills competition, Franklin said Monday.

She said the team skills event is new to the Nevada tournament this year. In this event there are five players at five positions on the basketball court. The players pass the ball and then shoot and rotate through the five positions until each player has a turn at shooting.

Submitted photo Bill Drake in the middle of the Nevada Special Olympic athletes before the competition began Saturday morning with the green t-shirts in recognition of Debbie Smith's battle with cancer.

The 5-on-5 basketball is the same as regulation basketball, with two differences. The officials are less stringent in their calls and the games have six-minute quarters instead of eight-minute quarters.

In the 3-on-3 event the officials still call fouls, but are there more to keep the game moving and to educate the players on the game. The goal is for players to learn the game and to work together.