Courtesy: FightingSioux.com The UND baseball team spent a Saturday morning earlier this fall cheering on local Special Olympic bowlers.
GRAND FORKS, N.D. - Earlier this fall, the University of North Dakota baseball team set aside one of its Saturday mornings to work with Special Olympics of North Dakota. The players met up with the Special Olympic athletes at Liberty Lanes for a bowling qualifier for the state tournament, which is later this month in Bismarck, N.D.
The players spread out throughout the jam-packed bowling alley to spend time with the athletes and cheer them on as they bowled their way to the state tournament.
“Our athletes were just thrilled to death to have the baseball team come support them,” Special Olympics of North Dakota’s Tim Baumann said. “They really look up to the UND athletes, so much so, that at some of our team practices, our athletes will close out the session with a ‘Go Sioux’ chant. It really was a special day.”
As uplifted as the Special Olympic athletes were by them being there, the UND baseball players took away even more from the interaction with the athletes and watching them excel at bowling.
“I just think this is a great way for our baseball team to be able to go out and support our community,” junior catcher Andrew Sadler (Grand Forks, N.D) said. “Working with these athletes was not only a good time, but pretty amazing to see how skilled they are at what they do. You can really see how enthusiastic and passionate they are about the sports they play.”
The Special Olympic bowlers’ out-going spirits and dedication to being the best athlete they can be were also valuable lessons soaked up by the Sioux players.
“We had a great time with the athletes,” junior centerfielder Josh Lagein (Devils Lake, N.D.) said. “It was enjoyable to see the excitement on their faces when they do well. I was also amazed at how competitive they were and their desire to want to win. That is the mindset it takes to be a great athlete and that was very apparent by watching them bowl.”
As good of bowlers as these athletes were, they are even better people and that fact alone made it quite easy for the players to get the most out their experience.
“All of the athletes were quick to introduce themselves,” junior pitcher Jameson Benson (Karlstad, Minn.) said. “They actually started up a lot of the conversations with us, which made it much easier on us to be ourselves and really get to know them. It meant a lot to me to be able to help them out, and everyone could tell how much it meant to the athletes that we were there with them.”
Sophomore pitcher David Lind (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) expressed a consistent sentiment that was echoed throughout the team. “I am really glad I had the opportunity to work with a group of so many awesome people,” he said. “It was a lot of fun and something I look forward to doing again.”
The impact the morning had on the team was substantial and head coach Jeff Dodson relishes in the thought of what opportunities like this can do for his team and building his players’ character both on and off the field.
“This experience was a testament to the type of players we have in our program,” Dodson said. There was 100 percent participation in this outreach and we did not have to ask them twice. I cannot put into words how thankful we were for this opportunity to work with these Special Olympic athletes. We put a lot of smiles on their faces, but the neat thing was they put even more right back on ours.”
Courtesy: FightingSioux.com
