Weeki Wachee Special Olympics grows into countywide celebration

A second-grader who said she liked being around her friends put the morning in plain terms at Weeki Wachee High School: being part of a team made her happy. That feeling filled the gym Thursday as the third annual Special Olympics drew students, staff and families from across Hernando County and turned one school building into a gathering place for the district.

What began as a small event between Weeki Wachee High School and Hernando High School has grown into a countywide celebration with about 130 athletes, according to Hernando Sun. This year’s field included students from Fox Chapel Middle School, Central High School, Winding Waters K-8, Weeki Wachee High School and Hernando High School, showing how quickly the event has outgrown its original footprint.

The morning opened with a torch run and school introductions, then moved into basketball games, a cornhole exhibition and cheer performances. A jazz band kept the crowd engaged between events, while cheerleaders handled halftime and helped give the gym the feel of a campus-wide rally instead of a single-sport meet. The athletes, many of them from self-contained classrooms, competed in front of a crowd that spent the morning fully behind them.

Unified partners, students without intellectual disabilities who are paired with Special Olympics athletes, were central to the event’s purpose. Special Olympics Florida says its Unified Champion Schools program is designed to bring students with and without intellectual disabilities together through sports, clubs and schoolwide initiatives, and that high school unified teams can compete in sports including basketball and be recognized as varsity athletes at their schools. The organization also says its programs provide year-round sports training and competition at no cost to athletes or families.

In Hernando County, that mission fits a real need. The school district’s Exceptional Student Education department serves students whose needs require additional support, including students with intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorder and orthopedic impairments. That support showed up in the gym through the work of organizers including Jeanne Ledbetter of Hernando High School, Anne McHugh of Weeki Wachee High School and special education teacher Christine Ferro, along with coaches Alexis Newberry and Paola Gines Calderon for Winding Waters, Jeanne Ledbetter and Tony Shackford for Hernando High, and Angelica Paine for Central High School.

Weeki Wachee High School, which lists enrollment of about 1,465 students and is led by principal Ed LaRose, has become the center of a countywide tradition that now reaches elementary, middle and high school students. The growth from roughly 85 athletes in 2025 to about 130 this year shows more than bigger numbers. It shows a wider circle of students finding a place to belong in the same gym, under the same lights, cheered on by the same community.