By Alan Someck, founder and executive director, the Great Neck Spirits Special Olympics Training Club

This is the 11th year of the Great Neck Spirits Special Olympics Training Club. This year our community is privileged to host The Long Island Special Olympic Track & Field Games at Great Neck South, which will involve over 1500 Special Olympic athletes and volunteers from all over Long Island. The event is a real acknowledgement to our community and the openness it has always demonstrated to the Special Olympics program.

The Spirits started out the first 2 years as a once a year event that brought together about 400 Special Olympic athletes, high school volunteers and community supporters. We still hold that event, but we have also grown to include weekly Friday night gatherings where 35-40 athletes, high school volunteers and coaches come together to play basketball and grow friendships.

What I have seen through the years continually inspires me. I have watched athletes develop the courage to take on challenges that for them are just as difficult as any we face. When Lee moved into his own apartment after many years of living in a group home because he was ready to take on that major responsibility of caring for his daily needs, it showed me that reaching one step higher is possible for everyone no matter where they begin. The process is the same and the courage it takes is the same --- because what it involves is looking into the mirror of our possibilities and saying I believe in me. Our training club creates an environment where athletes and volunteers are encouraged to take those steps.

Tony, for the past 20 years, has gone to almost every sporting event that Great Neck North and South High School has participated in. He knows all the students who play and what sports they have played in. He has cheered them on and has become a fixture on the sidelines. For 9 years we tried to get him to come Friday nights, but he refused. Finally, last spring he agreed to try once. Since then he has not missed a session and now when he scores a basket he gets to hear the wild cheers of the high school volunteers returning the support he has given selflessly through the years. He took a step to be courageous in his own life and that step has been added to strengthen the reach of the Great Neck Spirits.

Our goal is to have the athletes and volunteers be inspired by their own actions. What that takes is a commitment to becoming better at basketball by showing up and trying your best whatever that may look like. The second part of the equation, and probably the most important part is the encouragement and love that is created by the high school volunteers, coaches and athletes who recognize that when an athlete makes that attempt, he or she is making it for all of us and there can be no failure in a courageous attempt. That lesson is our message to all who participate and we hope the high school students carry it with them to whatever they may end up doing in their lives. They also have become transformed just by the simple act of caring for another human being, just naturally realizing that it does not take much to make an impact on someone else if it is done in an authentic way.

I have been very fortunate to have worked beside some very special people these past 11 years. Our coaches, Ed, Jordanna, Chris, Shelly, Diane, Michael, Jon and Eric have had the pressures we all have in our lives, but when they showed up Friday night, they put them away for an hour and let their hearts take over and embrace the special game they were about to play.

A few years ago we lost Coach Joan Gruenbaum and the memory of her quiet profound influence still lives on in our program as a reminder that just by being who we are and taking the time to look beyond our own needs, we can discover a world of remarkable humanity in the goodness of a simple act of an athlete and a high school volunteer shooting a ball through a hoop.

As adults and students, life often seems complicated and overwhelming. Often we take on so much responsibility for our lives and the lives of our children and there are days when we all wonder about what the point to all the frenetic activity is. However, it all begins to make clear sense when I look over at Colette standing by the foul line shooting, trying as hard as she can to get the ball in the basket and whether she does or not, Megan is cheering her on, letting her know it is worth the cheer. We could all use a cheer to let us know that there is nothing special we need to do, just be ourselves and try to do the right thing, which often is not that complicated. So I invite you to come and look for yourself. The Long Island event is Sunday, May 7, at Great Neck South and our Spirits annual basketball tournament is Sunday, May 21 at Great Neck North. Otherwise you are always welcome to drop by Friday night at the Great Neck North Middle School gym and watch some special people play a game that has a way of creating a lot of smiling faces.