Athletes shine at Special Olympics Fall Classic in Naples

NAPLES, Fla. (WINK)—Athletes packed Veterans Community Park on Sunday for the Special Olympics Florida Fall Classic, competing in pickleball, powerlifting, flag football and cornhole.

“We have today in those four different sports, over 350 athletes participating,” said Jessica Ott, Special Olympics Florida’s West Coast regional director.

For pickleball athlete Timothy Rabbu, the day was the payoff after about two months of practice.

Rabbu won two of his matches and narrowly lost another.

“I gave it my all,” he said.

But for Rabbu, Special Olympics events are about much more than the final score.

“That means that I get to meet new friends, and we become all champions, and we're all champions,” he said.

The competition was serious across the park. Ott said some Special Olympics powerlifters train year-round and can combine for more than 1,000 pounds across three Olympic lifts.

Sunday’s Fall Classic also served as an assessment for athletes ahead of the next level of competition. Ott said athletes have spent roughly eight to 10 weeks training in their respective sports.

The results help Special Olympics officials determine appropriate divisions before athletes travel to the Tampa Bay area for West Coast Regional competition on Oct. 3. Ott said roughly 1,200 athletes are expected to compete there.

The athletes were surrounded Sunday by volunteers, families and supporters who helped run events and cheer them on.

Wayne Garrick III volunteered with The III Movement Athletic Club, helping keep score, retrieve balls and encourage athletes during pickleball competition.

“It's absolutely amazing watching these athletes out here,” Garrick said. “I mean, they're absolutely incredible, to be completely honest, and, you know, being able to, you know, come out here and, you know, help support them. It's pretty awesome.”

For Timothy’s mother, Diane Rabbu, that sense of community has become one of the most meaningful parts of her family’s involvement with Special Olympics.

“Really, he's made so many friends through Special Olympics,” she said. “All of his friends are people in Special Olympics, and so has our family made friends with the parents of the athletes. So it's a big community.”

For athletes like Timothy, that community will follow them beyond Sunday’s competition as they prepare for the next stop in October.