Pinoy Special Olympics athlete to play in NBA Cares basketball game February 8, 2014 3:20pm

Tags: NBA All-Star Weekend
Skill, passion, and determination make a basketball player, regardless of nationality and intellectual ability. In recognition of this, the National Basketball Association has once again picked special athletes from around the world, and one of them is a Filipino.
 
Raymond Macaspac, 22, is headed to the third Annual NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Sports Basketball Game in New Orleans, Louisiana on Feb. 16.

Set before the 63rd NBA All-Star Game, Macaspac will share the hard court with 11 other special athletes, and with WNBA and NBA players and legends. 
 
“As the first Special Olympics athlete from Philippines to play in the NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Sports Basketball Game, Raymond will represent his community, to advance understanding of people with intellectual disabilities in Philippines,” says Kaye Samson, national director of Special Olympics Philippines.
 
Samson mentioned that since the cager from La Union joined Special Olympics, he has overcome his shyness and has even become the leader of his basketball team.
 
Proof of his skill and growing confidence is his team's recent win at the Special Olympics 2013 Asia Pacific Games in Newcastle, Australia. Held in 2013, Macaspac and seven other special athletes won the gold, adding to the 20 gold medals won by other Philippine athletes.
 
Before Macaspac takes to the court, he and his fellow athletes will dine with an NBA legend and given in-arena recognition at All-Star Saturday Night, before capping the night off by watching the All-Star Game.
 
NBA Cares is the league's charity arm. For the unified basketball games, they have teamed up with Special Olympics, an international organization empowering people with intellectual disabilities through various sports. — Rie Takumi/JDS, GMA News

Tags: NBA All-Star Weekend

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