Photos and story by Jeff Kiessel, MCP Contributor
Around the County is a presentation of Preferred Credit Union, www.preferredcu.org, located locally at 266 N. Jebavy Dr., Ludington.
CUSTER — Basketball players competing in the annual Area 24 Special Olympics Basketball Tournament competed on Saturday, Jan. 18, with excitement, spirit, grit and passion but most of all they competed with compassion for their fellow athletes.
That compassion was on display by several players and coaches Saturday, as teams with sizable leads grabbed rebounds and handed the ball to players from the opposite team and encouraged them to shoot.
Area 24 Tornadoes coach Duane Tyndall said ultimately he wants everyone of his athletes in a game to score a basket in a game.
“They score baskets in practice all of the time,” he said. “When their family and friends are here (at the game) to get them to make a basket in a game has been one of my goals for years.”
According to Tyndall, if his team is going to win a game and is up they are going to try to help another athlete out.
“My team really enjoys it,” he said. “To see the faces of the athletes when they make a basket, they might shoot 10 to 12 times before they make it, but when they make the place goes nuts and everybody is so happy. It is something that we have been doing for years.”
Tyndall said the annual tournament, held at Mason County Eastern Schools, is a lot of fun and brings in athletes who know one another and have established friendships during the years.
The tournament featured three local Area 24 basketball teams, which covers Mason, Lake and Manistee counties. Three teams from Area 5 representing the Big Rapids area and two teams from Area 32 which represent the Cadillac area, according to Tyndall.
Area 24 Special Olympics Michigan provides year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
______________
Please Support Local News
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
The easiest way is to sign up for an automatic monthly payment on Paypal. Click this link.
Alternative methods:
- We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
If you would like to support MCP/OCP but do not wish to receive daily emails, please consider sending a contribution to any of the above methods or pay by Venmo (@masoncountypress).
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2025, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
Please consider helping to fund local news. Mason County Press and Oceana County Press are available for free thanks to the generous support of our advertisers and individuals. Three ways to help us: Venmo: @MasonCountyPress; Paypal: MasonCountyPress@gmail.com; Mail a check to PO BOX 21, Scottville, MI 49454.
.jpg)
