Overlake School’s boys and girls basketball teams are sharing their team spirit with special-needs basketball players as part of the ninth annual Redmond Basketball Jamboree from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at Redmond High.

Hosted by the City of Redmond’s Adaptive Recreation Program, this event is a 31-team basketball competition for King County Special Olympics Masters squads (ages 22 and older). The day is dedicated to athletes in the adaptive recreation programs as a “warm up” to help determine at what level they will compete in the Special Olympics. For the second year, Overlake’s program has embraced this event for team community service. The students from Overlake will volunteer to be referees and scorekeepers for the games.

“The day wouldn’t be possible without volunteer referees and scorekeepers,” wrote Barbe Eggerud, City of Redmond’s Adaptive Recreation and Inclusion Services Program coordinator,

She noted that last year, Overlake players Katon Minhas and LT Cosmos volunteered as assistant coaches with the City of Redmond’s Adaptive Recreation Basketball program.

“When Katon’s mom, Jennifer Minhas, found out about the need for volunteers for the Redmond Jamboree, she approached the Overlake School basketball program to see if any of the athletes would be interested in volunteering,” Eggerud added. “Jennifer received such a positive response that she was able to fill almost every volunteer position available for the entire jamboree.”

This year, Katon and Cosmos will return as assistant coaches and Jennifer is once again organizing all of the Overlake athletes to volunteer at the jamboree.