McClory: Special Olympics Winter Games to take place in Worcester area

The 2012 Special Olympics Massachusetts Winter Games will be held March 10-11 in Worcester and surrounding areas. The 2012 Winter Games will host approximately 2,000 athletes and coaches, as well as 1,500 volunteers under the guidance of the professional Special Olympics Massachusetts State Office staff. The Winter Games give athletes a chance during the year to train and compete in the sports they adore to ultimately showcase their love for winter sports and another opportunity for them to experience a full and vibrant lifestyle. The Special Olympics Massachusetts Winter Games consist of competition in eight sports: Alpine skiing, snowboarding, Nordic skiing, floor hockey, figure skating, speed skating, ten-pin bowling, and basketball. Basketball is the largest of the eight sports hosted at Winter Games, with more than 100 teams and 1,200 coaches and athletes. Alpine skiing and snowboarding will take place at Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, and I will be there as a coach with my team, the “Nashoba Shooting Stars.” This is our 10th year competing. It is the weekend they have been training months for. We will compete in slalom, giant slalom and downhill and are hoping to bring home the gold. If you are in the area, stop in to watch these fine athletes enjoy some very competitive alpine racing.Gold Pin Award Winners for the 2011 Freshwater Sportfishing Awards Program were honored at a ceremony in February at the Eastern Outdoor and Fishing in the Worcester DCU Center. Local anglers who caught the largest freshwater fish species during the 2011 fishing season, both in Youth and Adult Category, included Michael Werling from Littleton. Werling caught a largemouth bass weighing 9 pounds, 4 ounces from Johns Pond in Mashpee. Roger Aziz Jr. from Methuen caught a bullhead weighing 5 pounds 15 ounces from Styles Pond, Boxford; he also scored a pin for his American shad weighing 6 pounds 8 ounces caught from Merrimack River, Lawrence. The salmon (broodstock) pin went to Daniel Tumbarello from Stoneham. His salmon, caught in Horn Pond in Woburn, tipped the scales at 14 pounds, 5 ounces and Kenneth Blondin of North Billerica caught a brown trout from White Pond in Concord that tipped the scales at 8 pounds, 15 ounces. Austin Aziz, competing in the junior division, also from Methuen, scored a pin with his American shad that weighed 5 pounds 6 ounces from the Merrimack River in Lawrence.Beginning in 2002, the Division of Fisheries & Wildlife has recognized the angler who weighed in the most species that qualified for the Freshwater Sportfishing Awards Program for the previous calendar year. Some anglers become specialists, studying the habits of specific species and learning how to target them, while others become generalists seeking out all the species that the state’s waters have to offer. This award promotes awareness of some of the Commonwealth’s underutilized species and recognizes an angler’s ability to catch a variety of trophy species. This year’s winner, a youth angler from Boxborough who got pins for 17 different species of fish, is Trenton Anestis.Educators looking to connect students with nature through science and art should consider submitting a waterfowl art entry to the Massachusetts Junior Duck Stamp (JDS) Program. The entry deadline is March 15. The Junior Duck Stamp Program was launched by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to increase young people’s appreciation of preserving wetland habitats, waterfowl conservation and wildlife observation. In late winter, the USFWS plans to inaugurate a new curriculum to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the JDS. Entries are judged in four categories: grades K-3, grades 4-6, grades 7-9 and grades 10-12. All entrants are recognized for their efforts, with the top 25 in each category receiving additional recognition. The overall state winner represents Massachusetts at the National Competition. Official entry information is at the US Fish & Wildlife Service website: www.fws.gov/jun