QUINCY – The Quincy Special Olympics Jackrabbits travelled to Tacoma over the weekend to compete in the state tournament. The team overall brought home 14 medals from their efforts over the weekend. 

“It’s competitive,” said Yesenia James, Program Coordinator for the Quincy Special Olympics team. “People might think that this is really easy. It is not. These players are very competitive.” 

The Jackrabbits had six players qualify for the state tournament this year. Five of those players participated in track and field events and the remaining athlete, Christopher James, participated in an individual soccer skills event. 

The individual skills event for soccer was chosen due to how much younger the members of the Quincy team were than the other soccer teams present at the tournament. For individual skills, athletes will go through different obstacles and challenges based on soccer and Christoper James got silver.  

“We’ve been practicing,” said Yesenia James. “We have practice twice a week before each event.” 

The track and field team brought home 13 medals over the weekend, four gold, seven silver and two bronze. During these track and field events, the coaches are not allowed to tell the athletes what to do or coach them in any way. 

“I wish everybody would go and watch these events and they can really see what these athletes can actually be able to do when somebody puts the time to teach them and has the patience to keep going,” she said. 

James said this is only the team’s second season with the Special Olympics. James said that when her son Christopher was going into sixth grade, there was nothing offered for those with special needs to do. 

She decided to approach the superintendent for the Quincy School District where they organized unified sports for middle school student athletes to participate with high school athletes. From there, her and her husband Joseph, who now coaches the team, began to find out more about the Special Olympics and joined the organization. 

“We had no idea what we were doing,” she said. “We googled a lot of stuff, we YouTubed a lot of stuff and we just went with the flow and everything just fell into place.” 

The Special Olympics team started with just six players and has risen to 11 players this year. James said the support from local businesses, the school district and families of the players has allowed the team to experience their growth over the past two years. 

James said their goal is to have sports available for the players year-round, and now that the spring season is over, the Jacks are making plans for summer sports. The plan for this summer is to play non-competitive softball and practice a little bit of everything that the team needs to work on. 

“We know that there are a lot of benefits for these athletes to stay active,” she said.  

Following the summer training, the team will be heading into the fall bowling season, which starts at the end of July.  

The most important part of this program is that it is a way to highlight these athletes as they prove their abilities, James said. She hopes the success of the Jacks this season will encourage more parents to sign up their children for the team. 

“You don’t know what the result can be if you don’t try,” said James. “Don’t just sit there and assume that your kid can’t do it because you will be surprised.” 

    Quincy’s Yaretzy Romero holds up the medals that she earned in the tournament. She earned silver in the 50m dash, bronze in the 100m dash and silver in shotput.
  

    Christopher James celebrates earning second-place with the Jacks in the individual soccer skills event at the state tournament over the weekend. The team is mostly made up of younger players from the middle and high school levels.
  

    Quincy Jacks’ Dustin Ehinger stands with his bronze medal earned in shotput. Ehinger also earned a silver for the 400m walk and finished fourth in the 200m walk.
  

    Quincy Jacks athlete Miley Arellano stands at the top of the podium after receiving a gold medal in the state tournament. She earned gold in the 100m dash, 200m dash and shotput.
  

    Marcos Arizmendi from the Quincy Jacks prepares to throw the shotput ball during the state tournament. He earned two silver medals for the 50m walk and 100m walk and a gold medal for shotput.
  

    Jacks' athlete Isaac Cruz stands on the podium after earning second place in one of the events. Cruz earned silver in both shotput and the 100m dash.