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Basketball season is officially underway as teams from across the state begin to prepare for this year's Basketball Championships on March 6-7. More than 800 athletes will qualify and make the trip to Stafford for the 2020 Basketball Championships.

8 years ago, Lilly Ellenbecker was handed a flyer with information on different Special Olympics sports that might be of interest to her daughter, Hannah. Ultimately, Lilly chose roller skating and registered Hannah for the local team.

Send Joey and athletes like him to Fall Championships. Click here to learn how you can help. Joey Wheeler works a full-time job in a retirement community, walks dogs seven days a week, serves as an usher at two churches, paints, spreads the word about Special Olympics as a Global Messenger, and plays bocce and golf. He gives and gets from society and contributes to every environment he’s in.

Send David and athletes like him to Fall Championships. Click here to learn how you can help.

Fresh off a silver medal at the World Games in Abu Dhabi this summer, Grace Anne Braxton recently returned to the international stage, this time in Scotland for the 2019 Solheim Diversity Cup. As part of The Solheim Cup festivities, a biennial women’s professional golf tournament, the Diversity Cup featured six teams of three players, each consisting of one celebrity, one member from the European Disabled Golfers Association (EDGA) and one junior from the Scottish Junior Boys Team.

More than 230 Special Olympics athletes and Unified partners, representing 23 U.S. and Canadian Special Olympics Programs competed in the 2019 Special Olympics North America Golf Championship this past week. The tournament was held at Hermitage Golf Course in Nashville, Tennessee. Of those 230, Special Olympics Virginia sent 13 athletes and 5 Unified partners to compete this past week in Nashville.

The 27th Annual Dulles Day Plane Pull was a tremendous success bringing thousands out to the tarmac at Dulles International Airport More than 60 teams raised funds and tested their strength and attempted to pull an 82-ton FedEx Airbus A320 or a Boeing 757 for 12 feet.

Catherine and Claude Dayas-Tokoto emigrated from Cameroon to the United States to provide a better life for their children including their first-born Prince, who has autism. When Prince began his involvement in Special Olympics Unified Sports® at Kenmore Middle School, Catherine and Claude’s perceptions changed of what the future would hold for their son.

Congratulations to nine additional schools in Virginia who have earned National Banner School status as part of Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program!