Local Disabled Sports Community Begins New Organization

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 16, 2007 at 9:09 AM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego's vibrant Special Olympics community is splintered. Many athletes and volunteers have migrated to a new, competing organization: Sports for Exceptional Athletes. The new club faces a lot of

San Diego is a wonderful place to practice sports, and you don't have to be a world class athlete to enjoy running track or shooting hoops. The developmentally disabled community has been through a radical shake up recently, as Special Olympics Southern California announced it was firing two of its long-time staff members in San Diego. Today we have in studio two people to talk to us about how the community rallied to set up its own sports organization, called " Sports for Exceptional Athletes ." It's an encouraging story of local commitment and local control, even though it has split the disabled sports community.

Guests:

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Greg Ahrens - longtime coach and parent of an athlete.

Sharon Ketteringham - longtime athlete.