Sports

Special Athletes, Traditional Wrestlers Compete in 'The Match' at Milford High School

For two months, six special athletes from Milford and surrounding towns have trained with two coaches, learning how to wrestle in preparation for a special match against traditional athletes. 'The Match' drew 150-200 on Saturday.

By Mary MacDonald

The idea that special athletes aren't competitive with traditional athletes may have been dispelled on Saturday at Milford High School, where six wrestlers with intellectual disabilities competed with club wrestling team members from Franklin and Milford.

"The Match" drew at least 150 people, and raised $1,500 for the Milford Special Olympics programs. The six special athletes are from Milford, Holliston, Franklin and other surrounding towns.

They competed in two sets against the New England Gold club team, out of Franklin, and the Milford High Outlaws club team. 

The event was organized by Nicholas DiAntonio of Milford, a former wrestler for Milford High, now a graduate student in education at Boston College. He's coached power lifting for special athletes and volunteered with the Milford Special Olympics for the past 10 years. DiAntonio recruited the athletes from his power lifting team, and then found a partner in Dan Duest, who is a youth wrestling coach in Milford.

His hope, DiAntonio said, was to help eliminate the misconception that special athletes can't compete. He and Duest, he said, had little difficulty teaching the moves and techniques to the special athletes, who trained with their coaches on Thursday nights for the past two months. Only one of the wrestlers had prior experience in the sport.

The high school athletes who volunteered to participate and practice with the special athletes grew steadily over the past two months, to the point where 12 team members were at the last practice, DiAntonio said. He told the high school athletes to treat them like any other competitor, to not go lightly, because the special athletes want to experience the feel of a real match.

"That was one of my goals, eliminating the stigma that these kids can't do things," DiAntonio said Sunday, after the match.

The event included state Senate certificates for all of the athletes and coaches, distributed by state Sen. Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge). Many of the Special Olympics athletes in Milford turned out, with their families, to see their friends compete.

"It was incredible," DiAntonio said, "in terms of what I was hoping for."

For more photos, click here.


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