Score! Phoenix-area Special Olympics team to compete in Rio De Janeiro games
Apr 12, 2016, 5:30 AM | Updated: Apr 13, 2016, 10:00 am
(Facebook/Gilbert Roadrunners Brazil Fundraiser)
PHOENIX — One Phoenix-area Special Olympics team has been chosen to represent Arizona in the Olympic games in Rio De Janeiro this upcoming winter.
Members of the Gilbert Roadrunners Special Olympics soccer team will be making their way to the foreign country for the Special Olympic games in November as the only team representing Arizona.
Eve Vance with the Roadrunners said the six athletes and five partners who will be competing together have been working together for years.
“They have participated in the local state competition here for Special Olympics Arizona for about 5 years, and have been competing for about 8 years altogether,” she said.
Vance said the idea to compete in the Special Olympics came about thanks to a little persistence from officials during a meeting in Brazil.
“Our CEO of Special Olympics was over at a unified sports meeting in Rio De Janeiro,” she said. “They came up with the idea of having a program for unified sports, so he recommended us to go over and play soccer over in Brazil.”
However, the Olympic dream does not come easy: the group is trying to raise $40,000 to make the trip, Vance said.
“We’re doing car washes. We’re doing yard sales,” he said. “We are trying to do as much as possible to raise as much as we can to go.”
For those who want to donate to the team and help them bring back the gold, a GoFundMe page has been set up for the players.