By: Molly Mitchell - WMBB.com

Sports have a universal way of brining people together. That's exactly what the Special Olympics held at the Sunland Center in Marianna did Wednesday. It was a great afternoon of basketball at the Sunland Ranch and for the first time Chipola College Basketball teams came out to help make this years Special Olympics a bit more special.

Six teams played against one another and the total athletes participating 60. Chipola College player Kadijah Ellison worked up a sweat showing players around the court, "I let them cross me, I let them. That wasn't real!" While She may have let these ballers show off today, Ellison in return learned something from these amazing people, "Just the laughing and enjoying, basketball is still a game."

Chipola College Basketball Head Coach, Greg Franklin, agrees, "It's a way to translate over, friendship as we've built some friends out here and build a bridge between us and the people out here." At thirty years young Françoise Peterson is in great shape and thinks it's pretty cool to be ballin with these collegiate players, "Yes, very cool, because Chipola is one of my favorite teams over in Marianna. I go to their games sometimes." Sunland gym was a packed house full of proud supporters, budding athletes and new friendships.

According to Coach Franklin, days like today are a way to bring everyone closer together, "We all can share sports together. It is a way to relate to each other and our word isn't the only world. Get out of your comfort zone and help out." According to Coach Franklin, this is the first year of many in a new relationship between the Special Olympics and Chipola College Athletics