Student-athletes support Special Olympics

Student-athletes can make a big impact on people’s lives and that was no different at “Fun Day with the Bods.”

The Student-Athlete Advisory Committee teamed together with Special Olympics to put on “Fun Day with the Bods.” The event was held in Lee Arena where ten different sports were set up for the Special Olympics athletes to participate in. There were Washburn student-athletes located at every sport as well as team leaders who were also Washburn student-athletes. The event lasted three hours and included lunch and dancing with the student-athletes.

“We decided to change it up from ‘Bowling with the Bods’ that we did last year and make it a little more interactive this year,” said Summer Harris, Director of Sports Marketing and Advisor for SAAC.

Forty-eight Special Olympics athletes filed into the gym, some wearing their signed t-shirts from last year’s ‘Bowling with the Bods,’ ready to play every sport they could imagine. And the event didn’t let them down. They rotated through each sport, including football, basketball, soccer and volleyball. However, the most popular station could have been the karaoke and dancing station. All of the athletes showed off their dance moves and learned new dances, some brave enough to get on stage and show off their moves.

“The dancing rotation seemed to be the most popular and we ended the even with both Special Olympics athletes and Washburn athletes dancing together,” said Harris.

At the end of the event each Special Olympics athlete got their personalized certificate of completion. The prize drawing at the end garnered much cheering and squirming with nearly every athlete leaving with a prize.