Bethpage Park Hosts Special Olympics Tournament
Bethpage Park Tennis Center hosted a tournament on Sunday, May 15 as a part of its Unified Tennis Games program.
The Unified Tennis Games were first conceived and developed by Steve Kaplan at Bethpage Park Tennis Center in 2003 as part of The Special Olympics program he and Bethpage Park Tennis Co-Director Keith Kambourian have hosted weekly since opening the facility in 1999.
“The Unified Games are an important part of the tennis experience for the wonderful people that participate because It provides athletic and educational opportunity, inclusion and perspective,” said Kaplan. “I'm very proud of all of athletes for making this year's event fun, exciting and memorable."
Eight high school varsity and tournament tennis players were paired with mentally-challenged athletes for an eight weeks instructional, mentorship and practice program. The Games culminated in a fun and competitive round-robin tournament run in conjunction with The Special Olympics of New York.
This year's Unified program was organized by Kaplan with help from his long-time student Ian Capell, a senior at Syosset High School, who will be heading to Cornell University in the fall.
“I have been doing this for five years now and working with the same people for a long time, so I’ve developed relationships with them through tennis but also on a personal level,” said Capell. “We got all the players together and they’re excited to be a part of it. They love the competition. And the amount of progress they’ve made in the five years I’ve been doing this is incredible.”
After a highly energetic and competitive tournament, Spencer Lowitt and Jeff Davis won an entertaining final. Risha Maholtra and Sabrina Walker finished in second place.
Sabrina’s father, Kenneth, a long-time tennis coach with the Special Olympics loves what the program does.
“It’s a great program that’s been held here at Bethpage State Park for the past 15-plus years,” said Walker. “It’s held every week from the third week of September to the end of May, with players taking part in drills and practices to prepare themselves for competition.”
One of the volunteers, Gabi Sklar, said she will absolutely return to the program once again.
“I think from the beginning there has so much progress. Meeting once a week has helped them all improve, and we’re all building relationships,” said Sklar. “It’s a great program and I’ll absolutely be back for more events.”
The event was made possible because of the help of the volunteers:
â–ºJosh Antell—Syosset High School
â–ºAdam Canarick—Syosset High School
â–ºIan Capell—Syosset High School
â–ºMiles Capell—Syosset High School
â–ºAditya Dave—Syosset High School
â–ºSpencer Lowitt—Syosset High School
â–ºRisha Maholtra—Syosset High School
â–ºGabi Sklar—Syosset High School
â–ºKaitlyn Byrnes—Plainedge High School
â–ºAlex Fried—Plainview JFK High School
â–ºAlexis Huber—Half Hollow Hills East High School
â–ºGabby Raziel—Half Hollow Hills East High School
â–ºJulia Raziel—Half Hollow Hills East High School
