Fall Sports Come to a Close Over Next Five Weeks

The Special Olympics Kentucky Fall Sports Season comes to a close with a whirlwind five weeks in November and December. Three of our program’s eight State Championship events take place in that time, including flag football, artistic gymnastics and bowling.

Flag football finishes up first with the State Flag Football Tournament on Saturday, Nov. 11, at Tates Creek High School in Lexington. Nearly 300 athletes on 27 teams will take the field that day to battle for state titles. Among them will be the Bowling Green-based team that will represent Kentucky at the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games next summer in Seattle.

The State Tournament is the culmination of a four-tournament season that included regional tournaments in Northern Kentucky, Louisville and Danville. Every team that competed at one of the regional tournaments qualified to compete in the State Tournament.

Flag football is the most recent team sport addition to the Special Olympics Kentucky program. It was added to the calendar in 2009 and became an official sport in 2010. Last year more than 300 athletes competed in flag football on 28 teams.

The State Artistic Gymnastics Competition is a one-day event which will be held at Legacy Gymnastics in Lexington on Sunday, Nov. 19. Most of the athletes who compete at the event train with special needs gymnastics programs in Northern Kentucky, Lexington, Louisville and Russellville, but athletes can train and register as individuals. Five of the gymnasts who will compete that day have been announced as members of the Team Kentucky delegation that will compete at the Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle in July 2018.

The Area 7 Bowling Tournament on Nov. 4 closed out the Area bowling season for Special Olympics athletes and pointed the entire state to the 2017 State Bowling Tournament  which will be held Dec. 1-3 at King Pin Lanes and Fern Valley Strike and Spare. More than 1,500 athletes and Unified partners will compete that weekend in what has become the organizations largest single-sport event.

The Special Olympics Kentucky State Equestrian Competition has already completed. It was held on Saturday, September 9, at Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park. The competition annually brings together athletes from several different therapeutic riding programs throughout the state. Training usually takes place through these riding programs; however, athletes can also train on their own and register for the event. The Equestrian Competition is a one-day event that includes dressage, equitation, working trails and prix caprilli classes in both assisted and unassisted categories.

For more information about how to get involved in the bowling, equestrian or artistic gymnastics programs, contact Amanda Wade at [email protected]. For information about flag football, contact Hunter Brislin at [email protected]. Both can be reached at 502-695-8222.