Eastern Connecticut Special Olympics Regional Games (with VIDEO)

The eastern Connecticut regional games of the Special Olympics at Stonington High School this Saturday began four years ago as a school project for high school juniors and has become an event with more than 250 athletes and 135 volunteers from five counties. 

The first regional games at Stonington High School took place in 2007 when Heather Buck, now a center/forward for UConn women's basketball, was a junior in high school and agreed to work on the project with her classmates and Stonington High School alum, Kate Careb, who was a regional coordinator at the time. 

"They did a lot of work, I was really impressed by them," Careb said of the high school juniors who were also organizing the junior prom that took place the night before the Special Olympics games. 

The group coordinated the regional finals by recruiting volunteers, staging the field and fundraising. Subsequent student groups have followed their example by continuing the program.

Saturday's games had a series of dashes, walks, wheelchair races and obstacle courses, throwing events and long jumps.  Athletes from five counties – New London, Tolland, Middlesex, Hartford and Windham – competed in the games and prepared for the state-wide competition in June.  

Careb, now a vice president for the Special Olympics, has a 39-year-old sister who was an athlete in the day's event, said that she thinks of the Special Olympics as a safety net for people with disabilities. 

She said, "my incentive was so that people like my sister would never be left behind."

Each athlete was presented with a ribbon of participation and medals were given to athletes making first, second and third place. 

Sate-wide, the organization has 28 full-time employees and approximately 13,000 athletes and offers programs in all seasons.