Battling it out

Bryce Alderton

Sweat dripped from their bright red faces as they walked off the

floor, but that wasn’t all their faces showed.

Smiles gleamed across the brows of 400 athletes from the Special

Olympics Southern California region who gathered in Corona del Mar High

School’s gym on Sunday for the first Orange County Region Floor Hockey

tournament.

The tournament served as a qualifier for the 75-team Southern

California Championships to be held in February in San Diego.

Orange County had nine teams in Sunday’s competition, but the exact

amount of teams from Orange County that will advance to San Diego hasn’t

been determined yet, said Steve Carpenter, the regional manager for

Special Olympics Southern California who has been involved with the

organization for three years.

“A lot of it has to do with cost and timing,” Carpenter said. “But

look at all these people doing this; there are a lot of people

participating here and it’s fun.”

El Cajon resident Sharon Ketteringham was one of those participants,

playing goalie for the San Diego City #3A Lightning Bolts.

“I’m having a lot of fun; I needed it,” said Ketteringham, dressed in

a black jersey and holding her goalie mask.

For 10 years, the 37-year-old has been playing floor hockey in

addition to playing seven other sports.

“I can’t say which one is my favorite,” she said, smiling.

Floor hockey players wear tennis shoes and use sticks made with a felt

tip to hit a circular rubber puck.

On each team, there are six players, including a goalie, that take the

floor at a time and there can be up to 16 members on a team, Carpenter

said.

Games consist of three nine-minute periods, and every player plays

equal amounts of time, he said.

Athletes are placed on teams based on their skill level and range in

age from 8 to 80.

Irvine resident and longtime Special Olympics volunteer Keith Brigman

came back to watch the sport he used to coach.

“I decided to take a break from it, but it’s great to come back and

watch a good tournament,” said Brigman, who has volunteered for 27 years

and now coaches 12 of the 22 sports Special Olympics offers.

“This is a nice outlet for people to participate in,” Brigman said.

Special Olympics also offers a Unified Sports Program where special

education students and general students at the same school train and

compete together in various sports.

“It’s a satisfying outreach concept that’s an opportunity to have more

of the community involved,” Carpenter said. “All my thanks goes out to

the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, including the Corona del Mar

High School athletic department and Denise Weiland, the community service

specialist for the high school, for making this day possible.”

All competitions follow Olympic tradition with opening and closing

ceremonies and gold, silver and bronze medals.

Floor hockey is one of 22 year-round team and individual sports

Special Olympics Southern California offers.

The Southern California Region serves more than 9,000 mentally and

physically challenged children and adults in the 11-county region.

Special Olympics began in 1968 when founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver

organized the first International Special Olympics Games involving more

than 1,000 athletes from the U.S., Canada and France.

Today, the programs serve more than a million athletes in all 50

states and in more than 150 foreign countries.

* Bryce Alderton is the news assistant. He may be reached at (949)

574-4298 or by e-mail at o7 bryce.alderton@latimes.comf7 .