On Saturday, approximately 180 athletes showed up for a special event at Lee-Davis High School. On the surface it looked like a Special Olympics basketball tournament but in reality it was athletics, pizza party and friendly reunion all rolled into one.

  The Lee-Davis Interact Club put on the event that drew teams from Hanover, Henrico, Chesterfield, Goochland and Caroline Counties.

  This winter marks the 15th year that Coach Bob Rogers has been involved with Special Olympics and conducting the basketball event. Over the past decade and a half he has seen the event take flight. “I started this myself probably about 15 years ago and we had maybe 20-30 and it’s just grown,” he said. Recent tournaments brought in around 390 athletes but the numbers were down this winter due to scheduling conflicts.

  Regardless, the event is one that stands out on everyone’s calendar. “The schools look forward to it. The kids come and see the same faces,” Rogers said. “They can’t wait to come here. We feed them. We raise money with our (Interact) Club, so we can feed them pizza, soda and drinks. It’s a good time. The kids love it. This is their major project for the year.”

  As president of the Interact Club it was Lee-Davis senior Geoff Duke’s responsibility to make sure everything ran smoothly. But Duke felt no pressure with the task. “We have 93 members so it’s not really such a big deal because we’ve got so many extra people,” he said.

  Therefore Duke said he and his fellow club members could concentrate on enjoying the day. “It’s all about community service and helping them have a good time whether it be playing basketball, hang out with their friends or meet new people,” he said.

  Likewise for junior Alex Armbrecht, who serves as the club secretary. “It’s not so much what I get out of it, it’s more like what the kids give to us,” she said. “Just being here and seeing them so happy, knowing that they look forward to this day the whole year, that’s what makes it. Being part of the club is great; not just doing it just to do it.”

  With such a payoff, the student volunteers don’t mind the long hours. “We’ve been here since 7:30 (a.m.),” said junior Jane Cupp, who serves as the club treasurer. “Last year I did it for 10 hours. They have so much fun here. They love it. They look forward to this all year. This is just a big, huge event for them.” 

  The Lee-Davis girls varsity basketball team lent a hand at officiating and helping with the competition side of things while the entire Confederate cheerleading squad showed up to cheer on the athletes.

  While the event was designed as a day of fun, there was no question that competition was foremost in the minds of the athletes. They took the games seriously and gave their all to win.

  One notable mid-day game matched up two well known locals in Kit Hammer, who served as an assistant with the Hanover Hawks, going against Will Daniel, a prominent figure with the University of Richmond basketball squads and Graham Wright, the official ball boy for Lee-Davis football. Wright dominated the scoring while both Hammer and Daniel made big baskets to propel their squads.

  Hammer was teamed up with Mechanicsville’s Larry Boykin and Caroline County’s Tom Angle but they could not overcome the run-and-gun effort from Wright, Daniel and teammates DJ LaMarr, Tommy Grimes, Ray Scannell among others. “There’s some talent to be seen out there and they go at it,” Rogers said. “There were a couple of little skirmishes in there earlier but it’s great.

  “A lot of these athletes have qualified to go on to the state level in a couple of weeks,” Rogers said. “They see each other from different schools and they know each other and there’s great camaraderie comes along with these athletes.”

  And just as the athletes go on to bigger things, the Interact Club members involved are inspired to continue their efforts beyond high school. “I’d love to come back here and do this or get outside and do other community service because I just love helping people,” Duke said.

  Armbrecht agreed. “A lot of the clubs, they go to Tech and JMU and stuff and they actually started a club of their own up there,” she said. Hopefully I’m going do that too because that would be great.”

“It’s not what we get out of this,” Rogers said. “They make our day. No matter how much the kids are having fun; it’s such a reward for our kids.”