Addison Trail Special Olympics Basketball Team earns 2nd place at State competition

Members of the Addison Trail Special Olympics Basketball Team pose with their medals after earning 2nd place in the Special Olympics State Basketball competition. That event took place from March 11 to 13 at Illinois State University.

From March 11 to 13, members of the Addison Trail Special Olympics Basketball Team competed in the Special Olympics State Basketball competition at Illinois State University – and they finished in 2nd place in their division (Division 6).

The student-athletes played two games. They lost a close first game 57-60 against Glenbrook United and won their second game 39-23 against the PIASA Birds to earn 2nd place. Addison Trail students who participated in the competition are junior Isabella Chaidez, sophomore Guadalupe Garcia, senior Austin Vitello, sophomore George Pappas-Papaioannou, senior Aleks Iskali, senior Alejandro Bueno, sophomore Robert Vitello, sophomore Kayshaun Stanfill, senior Johnny Rodriguez and sophomore Rueben Chacko.

On March 16, nearly 700 Addison Trail students and staff members signed a pledge to respect those with special needs by not using derogatory language. Those pledges were put together into a chain as part of a Special Olympics initiative called Respect City. Through that event, Addison Trail is competing against other schools to form the longest chain. In the photo, Addison Trail Special Olympics student-athletes help with the event.

Members of the team also recently joined with other Addison Trail students and staff to participate in a Special Olympics initiative called Respect City. Through that event, Addison Trail is competing against other schools to have the most people pledge to respect those with special needs by not using derogatory language. On March 16, nearly 700 students and staff members signed a sheet of paper as their pledge, and those papers were linked together to form a chain. The school with the longest chain will earn first place, and the winner of the competition will be announced at the end of March.