Wildcats Host Special Olympics Clinic
Apr 13, 2015 | General
April 13, 2015
By Kelly McHugh
When Brad Havenstein woke up yesterday morning, he had one thing on his mind: getting on the mound at Tointon Family Stadium to deliver the first pitch before K-State took on TCU.
Brad, a long time Wildcat fan who his mom, Pam, said is, "always wearing purple," found out he'd be throwing out the pitch earlier last week.
"Things like this don't happen very often," said Pam about her son's experience. "We waited to tell him until last week because otherwise he would be bouncing off the walls. He was really excited about it. He's just tickled."
So, after a week of anticipation leading up to the throw, when Brad finally got out on the field before the purple-clad fans, wound up and pitched to Wildcat pitcher Brandon Courville, he was all smiles yet again.
"My mom told me that I was doing the first pitch, and I thought it was pretty great," said Brad. "It was fun. I really like K-State."
Havenstein was one of 90 Special Olympians to spend the morning with the Wildcats yesterday at their annual K-State Special Olympics clinic.
A morning filled with competition, cheers and fun, from obstacle courses with the Wildcat rowing team to stick horse races with equestrian to touchdown dance competitions with the K-State football squad, lasting memories were made for all in attendance.
"There was a lot of planning, a lot that went into it," said women's basketball guard Kelly Thomson, the student-athlete in charge of bringing this year's Special Olympics Clinic to life. "You have to get all the kids, put them into teams, plan the events, stations, get all the food ordered and the baseball tickets ordered, the posters. It was a lot, but it's totally worth it to see everyone come out here and have a great time."
Completely led by K-State student-athletes each year, members of the Wildcat Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) have spent the past few months working together to set up the clinic. With Thomson taking the lead, a group of SAAC members gathered student-athlete volunteers from every sport to man their team's station, ordered and prepared lunches for every athlete in attendance and made sure posters and pens were ready for every Olympian.
"K-State Athletics does the majority of the work, and we're so thankful for that," said Krystin Guggisberg, the Director of Special Olympics for the North Central Kansas Region. "They recruit their student-athletes to come out, my job is simply to pass around that information to our regional athletes. Special Olympics didn't have to fund any of this. We just show up and it's they treat us to this day."
Fourteen of the Wildcats 16 athletic teams (baseball and tennis were unable to attend because they were both competing) were represented at the event, and each participated in setting up and running its respective drills. With Olympians from numerous different Special Olympics teams around Kansas' North Central Region, each athlete had the opportunity to putt with the golf team, shoot hoops with the basketball teams and tackle the football team once the day was said and done.
"We had a great time today," said K-State football senior safety Dante Barnett. "We got to come out here early and have a lot of fun. Things like this shows that K-State really cares. We emphasize on family all the time, and this is one of the reasons that we say K-State is a great family; any time you can get out there and do something for the community, that's just great."
After the clinic, the Olympians and their families headed over to Tointon Family Stadium where, after Brad Havenstein's opening pitch, they watched the Wildcat baseball team defeat No. 3 TCU, 6-2, and win this weekend's series against the third-ranked Horned Frogs.
The Bat Cats' victory was sweet, and it only added to an already very special day.
"It's awesome to be a part of an athletics program that wants to give back to the community," said Thomson. "We really are all about family here at K-State, and you can see that on days like today and through events like this that we really are a proud family all the time."
We hope you enjoy K-State Sports Extra. We would like to hear your comments and any story ideas for future emails, so fire them our way. Contact Kelly McHugh or K-State Assistant AD for Communications Kenny Lannou.
K-State Baseball | Postgame Highlights vs Columbia Game 2
Saturday, February 28
K-State Men's Basketball | Postgame Press Conference at Colorado
Thursday, February 26
K-State Rowing | Media Day
Tuesday, February 24
K-State Rowing | Weights Practice
Tuesday, February 24
