One of the more popular Special Olympic events in the East Valley is the annual golf tournament which is held at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Tempe. The event offers skills for those athletes who are just learning, but also offers individual stroke play and Unified alternate stroke team play. Over the past couple of years this program has grown not only in Mesa, but also among the other delegations throughout the East Valley.

2011 East Valley Special Olympic Bowling Tournament

This year’s East Valley Bowling Tournament which was held at the Brunswick Zone, 1754 W. Southern Ave. in Mesa, was the largest tournament so far. There were new delegations from Cave Creek, Metro Tech. and Canyon Creek from Apache Junction. Club Diversity from Red Mountain High School volunteered at the event and did an awesome job. We ended up with 622 bowlers for the four sessions. Our “Buster the Bulldog” bowled a frame against the Chandler “Cougar” and the Scottsdale “Bobcat”. I am proud to say the Buster beat both the Cougar and the Bobcat. GO BULLDOGS!!!

2011 Mesa Regional Special Olympics Soccer Tournament

Mesa’s Regional Soccer Tournament was held at Hohokam baseball stadium on Saturday, December 10th. It was originally scheduled for December 3rd, but due to bad weather it was rescheduled. Eleven teams participated in the tournament, with 3 teams coming from Nogales, AZ, one from Rise and Shine (a new program), one from Maricopa USD, 4 teams coming from Gilbert and 2 adult teams from Mesa. We would like to thank the volunteers from Red Mountains Club Diversity, KAST and Chandler/Gilbert Soccer Team for making the event run smoothly.