4-24-2024 12:20am

Lifeworks Athletes Take Gold, Silver at Special Olympics MA Tournaments

Darlene Cancell Editor

Photo courtesy of Lifeworks. The gold medal winning Lifeworks floor hockey team gathers together.

Thanks to Lifeworks for contributing this news to Westwood Minute.

Westwood based Lifeworks, a non-profit dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, sent floor hockey and basketball teams to the Special Olympics MA State Tournaments, held in Worcester on April 7th. They came back with gold for floor hockey and silver for basketball.

Coach Kevin Murphy praised his players, saying, "I am very proud of our athletes' performance and their determination to never quit or give up even when they were losing."

The Lifeworks floor hockey team played two games and secured the gold medal after a come from behind overtime win.

“It was definitely a nail biter,” said team captain Jenny P., of Norwood, MA adding, “We did very good, a gold medal is very impressive.”

Word spread fast about their win. Mike M., a team member from Walpole, MA, was not able to make the tournament, but when he heard about the result, he said, “Awesome, I'm so proud of my team this year.”

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The floor hockey team had diligently practiced on Saturday evenings at Xaverian Brothers High School to put themselves in the position to win gold.

Leading up to their silver medal win, members of the basketball team diligently practiced on Monday nights at the Civic Center in Norwood. The team also participated in three weekend Special Olympic lead up tournaments where they won gold, earning their automatic place in the Special Olympics MA State Tournament.

At the State Tournament games held on April 7th, the Lifeworks basketball team played two highly competitive teams—winning one game and losing the second—earning them the silver medal.

Heaping praise on the work of their coach, player John O. remarked, “Kevin’s a good coach. The team played very well and had good sportsmanship. There are lots of good people on the team and lots of new people, so coach Kevin did a great job helping us work together and win!”

“I am so proud of our basketball and floor hockey athletes! Both played amazingly against tough teams and never gave up at the State tournaments. The games were wonderful to see, but even more so, was their sportsmanship. " said Kate Kalinoski, Lifeworks associate director of Social & Recreation Programs.