Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified Sports partners in 172 countries. Special Olympics competitions are held daily, all around the world—including local, national and regional competitions, adding up to more than 100,000 events a year. Like the International Paralympic Committee, the Special Olympics organization is recognized by the International Olympic Committee; however, unlike the Paralympic Games, its World Games are not held in the same year nor in conjunction with the Olympic Games.
Eunice Mary Kennedy Shriver was an American philanthropist and a member of the Kennedy family. She was the founder of the Special Olympics, a sports organization for persons with intellectual disabilities. For her efforts on behalf of disabled people, Shriver was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1984.
Major League Lacrosse (MLL) was a men's field lacrosse league in the United States. The league's inaugural season was in 2001. Teams played anywhere from ten to 16 games in a summertime regular season. This was followed by a four-team playoff for the championship trophy, the Steinfeld Trophy, named after founder Jake Steinfeld. League attendance peaked at 6,417 in 2011 and the 2019 average was 4,587.
The Dallas Rattlers were a professional men's field lacrosse team as a member of Major League Lacrosse (MLL) based in Frisco, Texas starting in 2018. The franchise was a charter member of the MLL, operating as the Rochester Rattlers in Rochester, New York, from 2001 to 2008 and 2011 to 2017.
Rochester Community Sports Complex Stadium, also called the "downtown soccer stadium", is a soccer-specific stadium in Rochester, New York within the Rochester Community Sports Complex. It is home to the Flower City Union of the National Independent Soccer Association. Previously to the Flower City Union, the stadium was home in 2018 to the Rochester Lancers and Lady Lancers of the NPSL and UWS, respectively. The stadium originally hosted the Rochester Rhinos of the USL, the Rochester Rattlers of MLL, and the Western New York Flash of the NWSL.
Innovative Field is a baseball stadium located at One Morrie Silver Way in downtown Rochester, New York. It has been the home of the Rochester Red Wings of the International League since 1997. The park opened in 1996, replacing Silver Stadium in northern Rochester, which had been home to professional baseball in Rochester since 1929. Although the stadium was built for baseball, Innovative Field has had several tenants in numerous sports, including the Rochester Raging Rhinos of the United Soccer Leagues from 1996 to 2005, and the Rochester Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse from 2001 to 2002. The ballpark seats 10,840 spectators for baseball.
Al Lang Stadium is a 7,500-seat sports stadium along the waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, United States which was used almost exclusively as a baseball park for over 60 years. Since 2011, it has been the home pitch of the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the USL Championship soccer league.
Steve Donner is an American sports executive, team owner, and manager. He is the founding Commissioner of the Professional Box Lacrosse Association, and the co-owner of the Elmira Mammoth of the Federal Prospects Hockey League. He is the former president and CEO of the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League, and the founder and CEO of the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League, the Rochester Rattlers of Major League Lacrosse and the Rochester Raging Rhinos of the United Soccer League. He has also served as chief executive of numerous other professional sports teams and ventures.
The 2007 Special Olympics World Summer Games were held in Shanghai, China.
Loretta Claiborne is an American global speaker and multi-sport athlete who competes in the Special Olympics. She has been honored with the 1996 Arthur Ashe ESPY Courage Award presented to her by Denzel Washington. Claiborne was the first Special Olympics athlete elected to the Special Olympics International Board of Directors.
The Hamilton Nationals were a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They began play in the 2009 season in Toronto, Ontario as the Toronto Nationals, becoming the first-ever Canadian MLL team. In 2009, they played their home games at BMO Field, which is also home to Major League Soccer's Toronto FC but moved to the smaller Lamport Stadium for the 2010 season. On February 3, 2011, the Nationals announced that they were relocating to Hamilton, Ontario, and would play their home games at Ron Joyce Stadium on the campus of McMaster University. On 21 November 2013, MLL announced that the team would not participate in the 2014 season, with most of the players being transferred to the expansion Florida Launch.
The Ohio Machine was a Major League Lacrosse (MLL) professional men's field lacrosse team based in Obetz, Ohio. They first played in the 2012 MLL season and continued through the 2018 season.
The Brockport Golden Eagles football program is the intercollegiate American football team for the State University of New York at Brockport located in the U.S. state of New York. The team competes in the NCAA Division III and are members of the Empire 8. The team plays its home games at the 10,000 seat Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stadium in Brockport, New York. The Golden Eagles are coached by Jason Mangone. Brockport participates yearly in the Courage Bowl.
The Chicago Machine were a Major League Lacrosse franchise from 2006 until 2010. The Machine, a men's professional field lacrosse team, played in Toyota Park from 2007 until 2009. Chicago played all its "home" games at various stadiums across the country in 2010. Over its five-year history, the Chicago Machine were 13–47 and never made the playoffs. Following the 2011 season, their players were transferred to the Rochester Rattlers.
The city and metropolitan area of Rochester, New York, has several sports teams. Rochester was named the top minor league sports market in the country by Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal in July 2005, the number 10 "best golf city" in America by Golf Magazine in 2007, and the fifth-best "sports town" in the country by Scarborough Research in September 2008.
The 2016 Major League Lacrosse season was the 16th season of Major League Lacrosse. The season featured 9 teams after the addition of the Atlanta Blaze via expansion. It was the first season since 2008 that the league fielded more than eight teams. The defending champion New York Lizards were coming off their third Steinfeld Cup victory in franchise history and first since 2003 after defeating the Rochester Rattlers 15–12 August 8, 2015 at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Georgia. On August 20, the Denver Outlaws won their second Steinfeld Cup trophy in three years, coming back to defeat the Ohio Machine, 19–18.
The Courage Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game that has been played every year starting in 2005.
Ford Center at The Star is a 12,000-seat stadium located in Frisco, Texas. Its main use is as the Dallas Cowboys' practice facility. It is also used for Whataburger's Friday Night Stars, an event every Friday showcasing Frisco Independent School District high school varsity football. The synthetic turf surface is Hellas Matrix Helix Turf. The field's dimensions can also be marked for and accommodate a regulation soccer pitch and lacrosse field.
The 2017 Major League Lacrosse season was the 17th season of Major League Lacrosse. Featuring the same nine teams as 2016, the season began on April 22. All four games played on opening weekend were won by the road team and decided by one goal, two in overtime. The season culminated in the championship game on August 19 in Frisco, Texas at The Ford Center at The Star. In a rematch of the 2016 championship game, the Ohio Machine defeated the Denver Outlaws 17–12, capturing their first Steinfeld Cup in franchise history.
The 2018 Major League Lacrosse season is the 18th season of Major League Lacrosse. The season began on Saturday, April 21 with three games. For the third straight year, the league consists of nine teams playing 14 games each. However, the league announced on November 16, 2017 that the Rochester Rattlers, one of the league's four remaining charter franchises, would relocate to Frisco, Texas and become the Dallas Rattlers. The reigning champions for the first time are the Ohio Machine, who would take a hard fall and finish 3-11 in 2018. The season culminated on Saturday, August 18 with the Denver Outlaws hoisting their third Steinfeld Trophy in Charleston, South Carolina at MUSC Health Stadium after defeating the Rattlers, 16-12.
