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| Aroostook Republican photo/Jon Gulliver Jaime Kemper works on her dribbling skills as fellow Snowdog teammate Bobby Little and assistant coach Terry O’Donal look on. |
By Jon Gulliver
Staff writer
PRESQUE ISLE — It’s early on a Saturday morning but one side of the basketball courts at Gentile Hall on the campus of the University of Maine at Presque Isle is buzzing with activity. Roughly 20 basketball players are going through passing, dribbling and defensive drills, although most probably wish they were scrimmaging. That will come later, since this is only the third practice of the year. This day the focus is on fundamentals for the northern Aroostook Special Olympics Basketball team, the Snowdogs.
First-year head coach Brian Hamel opened up the practice with conditioning exercises.
“We want the players to get into good condition so they don’t get hurt and they will be better competitors,” said Hamel.
Conditioning will be important because it is a long season for the Snowdogs. The finish line for the group is the state Special Olympics tournament in April. Until the tournament practices will be held twice a week, Wednesday at the Presque Isle Recreation Center and Saturday at UMPI, with the exception of a holiday or regularly scheduled day off.
The age range of the athletes is varied, 18 to 53 years old. Hamel said within that range each player has different abilities.
“We work with them as a team — I want them to understand the team concept, so the better players are teaching the players that don’t have as good skills,” the coach said.
Since there are no other Special Olympics basketball teams in the region there will be a lot of scrimmaging between members of the team, but Hamel said he might invite a high school team to play the Snowdogs, or possibly a group of parents or even members of the media. When it’s time to head down to the state tournament the Snowdogs will be split into two teams, but not an “A” or “B” team according to Hamel.
“We are going to commingle the athletes with the good skills and the not so good skills, so we are going to have a mixed co-ed team,” said Hamel.
Conceivably the two squads could meet in the finals, which may present a coaching challenge for Hamel, but one he would enjoy.
As the athletes learn the game of basketball better, Hamel is learning more about coaching, but he does have some help. Assistant coaches Sheila Sharp, Terry O’Donal and Sally Burnell were with the team last year and have been providing valuable assistance according to Hamel, who is truly enjoying this new experience.
“I love the athletes, that’s what makes it enjoyable,” he said. “To see the smiles on their faces — I told them during my first practice the goal is to have them so they can’t wait to get back to the next practice and that certainly has been the case in the first three practices. They are learning some skills, having a great time and most importantly for me they are smiling and feeling good about themselves.”
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| Aroostook Republican photo/Jon Gulliver Hillary Griffin and Justin Gauvin work on their passing skills under the watchful eye of coach Brian Hamel at a practice of the Special Olympics Northern Aroostook basketball team. |
Special Olympics Aroostook is one of 12 area programs associated with Special Olympics Maine. The mission of Special Olympics is to “provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.”
“The reason why Special Olympics is so important is they may not have the opportunity to participate in these type of activities if we didn’t have the Special Olympics basketball team,” Hamel said. “They really do want to get better, and I could really see a marked improvement from the first to the second practice.”
