Blair Special Olympics spent its Saturday at the Papillion Landing Sports Complex.
It's where coach Dixie Trevarthen's team competed in a Special Olympics Nebraska bocce ball event during a Fall Games weekend. Softball, tennis and golf were also contested at Papio Bay Park, Woods Tennis Center in Lincoln and Mahoney Golf Course in Lincoln, respectively, during the fall competition period.
Blair, however, was all-in on bocce. It's a sport where participants toss a small ball called a jack out into a designated area on the playing surface and then try to bowl four more larger balls close to it. The overall objective is to get as many balls as possible closer to the jack than the opposing team for points.
David Harkey and Nathan Tanderup were the first competitors to represent Blair during the competition, eventually earning silver medals for their efforts.
All of the Special Olympians and Unified partners played against each other, while given reminders to stay hydrated over the loud speaker on the warm morning and afternoon. Blair had its own tent set up at the event with a banner on it announcing who the people under it were and where they had come from to compete. Seven pairings of two ultimately competed for Coach Trevarthen's squad during the event.
