Mercer DD golfers are a hole in one

CELINA- Mercer County Special Olympics golfers are sharpening up their short game on a putting green recently laid down on the Mercer County Developmental Disabilities site on Mud Pike Road.

The putting green was part of a grant-funded project that included the renovation of a basketball court and the creation of a pickleball court and two bocce ball courts.

The upgraded recreational hub allows Mercer DD to expand its Special Olympics offerings for wheelchair users, said superintendent Shawn Thieman.

"The one thing that we're not super at is getting people with wheelchairs activities and things that they participate in," Thieman said. "Bocce ball is a great sport and it's basically just a long piece of grass or turf."

The putting green will allow wheelchair users to better participate in the unified golf team, he added.

"So this area, it'll be handicap accessible. Hopefully it's creating an area built specifically for people with disabilities," Thieman said.

Mercer DD was awarded $90,887 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Home and Community Based Services funds earlier this year to support citizens with developmental disabilities and their families.

Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities Director Kim Hauck announced in January that $14.9 million in ARPA money would be distributed across 67 counties for things such as universal changing tables and accessible public places and parks.

The Mercer County Special Olympics unified golf team consists of 23 members and their partners, mostly other locals who share an affinity for the sport, according to Special Olympics Coordinator Sam Fledderjohann.

The 2-member teams golf together twice a month at either the Celina Lynx Golf Club or Northmoor Golf Course throughout the summer starting in June, she said.

"They do a scramble golf," Fledderjohann said. "If the partner would tee off, then the athlete hits wherever that ball lands, so they play as one player. Then they add their score together and that's their score."

She said it's been thrilling to watch the program grow over the past five years.

"It's our fifth season, and some of the majority of our guys that have played all five years have had the same partner all years," she said. "Their partners request, 'Hey, I want that same athlete. I want to do it again,' because it's a good time for both parties."

Other than installing the basketball hoops to the court, the renovation project was completed much earlier than anticipated.

"I didn't think that we would have even started on it," Thieman said.

Mercer County has 144 individuals aged 12-60 involved in various Special Olympic sports, such as unified cheer, cheer, basketball and unified golf.

"It's for us. We want it to be something that we own and can control in that way," Thieman said of the new additions. "(We can) have some tournaments and bigger events. It's exciting."

To support the Mercer County Special Olympics, the Celina Moose will host a golf outing at Northmoor Golf Course at 1 p.m. June 15. The event includes golf carts and a hamburger lunch on the course. Team entry fee is $220 and hole sponsorship is $50 per hole.

For sponsorship information, contact Fledderjohann at 567-890-0265. For tournament information, call 419-733-3781.