Courtesy of Massachusetts Maritime Sports Information
Massachusetts Maritime was the winner of the March 2016 NCAA Division III Special Olympics Spotlight Poll, as a story on the Buccaneer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee’s annual Community Basketball Games night in January received nearly 60 percent of the overall vote in the month-long competition.
Massachusetts Maritime, Smith College and Augsburg (Minn.) competed for the top spot in the Special Olympics Spotlight, which highlights on-campus or conference-based activities through NCAA Division III’s partnership with Special Olympics. The Buccaneer Student-Athlete Advisory Committee will now receive a $500 stipend for use in its next Special Olympics event, which will take place on Saturday, May 14th when Academy student-athletes participate in a Field Day at Barnstable High School.
The Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) initiated the partnership at the 2011 NCAA Convention and officially launched the partnership on August 1, 2011. The purpose of the partnership is to enhance the lives of Division III student-athletes and Special Olympics athletes through a mutual learning experience; provide a platform for recognition of Special Olympics athletes and Division III student-athletes within their communities; and raise awareness of Special Olympics, its programs and services.
Through this partnership, Division III student-athletes across the country are encouraged to participate in existing Special Olympics events, create their own events, or otherwise serve to support Special Olympics organization. The activities pursued by student-athletes will vary in each state and region, tailored to best utilize the student-athletes' time and local resources. Service activities with Special Olympic athletes range from unified events to sports clinics to bowling as well as pizza parties or fundraising efforts.
On January 19th, the Buccaneer SAAC hosted the first of two Community Games basketball nights for Special Olympics of Cape Cod, as teams from Wareham, Plymouth, Freetown and New Bedford competed in four contests played inside the Clean Harbors Athletic Center. The Wareham Wild Vikings, Plymouth Rock Masters, Whitney Academy and New Bedford Hawks took part in the event, and Buccaneer senior baseball co-captain Alex Rozak (Plymouth, Mass./Plymouth North) and freshman women’s lacrosse student-athlete Erica Overstreet (Bridgewater, Mass./Bridgewater-Raynham) served as referees for all of the games.
A second Special Olympics Community Games night was held on February 16th at the Clean Harbors Athletic Center, with Rozak and fellow baseball senior co-captain Kevin Kwedor (Marshfield, Mass./Marshfield) serving as referees for games involving teams from Freetown and New Bedford.
“I want to congratulate our student-athletes for their tireless dedication to Special Olympics and to the community as a whole,” said Massachusetts Maritime Director of Athletics Garin Veris. “The commitment to excellence that our cadets continue to demonstrate in competition, in the classroom and in the community speaks volumes to their character, and all of us in the Buccaneer athletic family are grateful to everyone for their support in last month’s poll.”
