One of our winter Special Olympics sports is basketball.  Wings Basketball runs from March to June with practice usually in Eden Prairie.  We offer team events as well as individual skills competitions that help athletes train and compete in basic basketball skills before advancing to team play.  Depending on the coaches and number of athletes, we have a number of full and half court teams and the option of individual skills competition.

Practices are held weekly (usually on Monday evenings) for an hour and a half.  The team warms up together and then divides into their assigned teams.  Team assignments are done in the first couple weeks by grouping athletes of similar ability and determining if they are going to be playing half court of full court basketball.  Half court teams  play 3 on 3 and range from 4-6 players on a team, full court teams range from 8-10 players.

When we attend Area and Regional meets, teams are put into divisions according to their general ability. Area Meet is held in April or May and Regional meets are in May.  Basketball and swimming do sometimes conflict at State Games and athletes must select one sport for Summer games, either swimming, basketball or track.  As a result, basketball teams generally do not attend State Games but attend Regional games instead.

Athletes wear comfortable athletic clothing for practices with a good pair of tennis shoes.  (We ask that athletes bring their shoes and change into them to keep the gym floor clean and dry).  Athletes receive a Wings t-shirt and many choose to wear them to practices.  Uniforms are provided for competition.

Recently we have added a Unified Basketball team for competition.  Please see the head coach for more information.