Jenny MarderThey’re so close, they call themselves...

Jenny Marder

They’re so close, they call themselves a family.

Evan Moffett has been playing with the Lightning Bolts, a Special

Olympics basketball team, for 15 years.

Sports have been a part of the 24-year-old’s life for almost as

long as he can remember. When he lists off the sports he plays it

seems endless -- skiing, basketball, softball, swimming, track and

field and hockey.

His favorite sport?

“That is hard to tell,” he said.

Moffett, who has Downs Syndrome, is a sort of celebrity in the

Orange County chapter of the Special Olympics, which held its annual

fundraiser on Saturday.

Hundreds of medals crowd his Huntington Beach home, where he lives

with his parents. A picture of him used to hang in the Special

Olympics office, until it was taken down during renovation.

“They have a big picture of me,” he said proudly. “I am

professional.”

Of the 29,000 people with mental and physical disabilities in

Orange County, 1,300 belong to the Special Olympics.

“We’ve been a family unit for years,” said team coach Chris

Bowers, whose son, Cory, is a Lightning Bolt teammate. “They love the

competition and the camaraderie. They love the competition like they

don’t have disabilities.”

The fundraiser drew more than 400 people and raised $100,000,

exceeding last year, said Becky White, the sports coordinator for the

Orange County branch of the Special Olympics.

All the proceeds will go toward increasing the program.

The Special Olympics is a nonprofit organization, 100% dependent

on donations and the occasional grant, White said.

Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the group serves more

than 1 million people in more than 160 countries throughout the

world.

“The important thing about the Special Olympics is that these

people meet each other,” White said. “They know they’re not the only

one that has a problem or a disability.”

The Orange County chapter offers 19 sports, in three seasons, all

coached by volunteers.

In addition to physical exercise, Special Olympics athletes gain

self esteem, a sense of accomplishment, discipline and life skills,

White said.

“They learn to show up at practice on time,” she added. “They

learn to take direction and learn things they need to help them with

school and with work. Things like taking care of a uniform are thing

that they need to help them succeed in life.”

Athletes with varying levels of need belong to the Special

Olympics.

Huntington Beach resident Eric Cervantes, who has a learning

disability, is talkative and enthusiastic about the sport and his

fellow athletes.

“We’re all winners,” he said. “We all get to play. We’re all out

here having fun.”

Cervantes, 18, who has been in the organization for two years, is

playing with team members who are going on 20 years.

Keith Brigman, his coach, said he has high hopes for Cervantes.

“He’s a little raw on his skills, but he’s always been able to get

by on athletic talent,” Brigman said.

And like many of the athletes, his interest transcends the sport

itself. He is proud of his team and eager to learn from them.

“We’re all real good,” Cervantes said. “They’re good guys to be

around. I look up to them. They’ve taught me a lot ... about how to

play sports better than I do, about how to treat other people.”