The joy and excitement in the athletes’ eyes was unmistakable. You could see it from the moment they entered Charlotte Bobcats Arena. It was there as they ate pizza and drank soda, courtesy of Levy Cares and then headed into the Presbyterian Training Center to participate in a basketball clinic with the Bobcats players and coaching staff.

Approximately 100 Special Olympians representing eight different counties in North Carolina arrived on the court full of energy and ready to learn.

The athletes, all in training for the 2006 Special Olympics North Carolina Basketball Tournament and Cheerleading Championship, were looking to sharpen their skills and get some pointers from some of the world’s best basketball players, all while having a great time.

“It’s a great opportunity for our athletes to get together with the best in the world,” said Bob Bowler, a full-time Special Olympic volunteer. “It really raises their self-esteem and self-confidence to know that they were able to learn new skills with the best in the world.”

Divided into six different groups, the athletes rotated from station to station working on their dribbling, passing, shooting, defense and rebounding. At each station they exhibited a contagious enthusiasm and zeal for learning the game.

“They’re excited about everything,” said Bobcats guard Kareem Rush, who teamed up with Bobcats Director of Player Programs Dell Curry at a shooting station. “We were doing a layup drill and they were running as hard as they could. They’re all about excitement and having fun, and we enjoy doing it with them.”

“These athletes came out ready to learn and ready to have fun,” explained Melvin Ely. “They couldn’t wait to do anything we asked them to do. They just wanted to interact with us. That’s the same thing we wanted to do with them.”

Ely joined forces with Jake Voskuhl, Primoz Brezec and Assistant Coach Jeff Capel to demonstrate how to dominate on the boards. While these four were the ones supposed to be doing the teaching, the athletes also helped Ely improve his technique on the glass.

“I’m having problems rebounding so they were helping me out too,” he said. “They were telling me I had to scream and yell, so I was doing it right there along with them. I probably had more fun than any of them today. We just came out here and had a ball.”

The athletes also had a good time working on their defense with Emeka Okafor, Gerald Wallace, Keith Bogans and Assistant Coach John-Blair Bickerstaff. The smiles didn’t leave their faces as they wound their way around the gym doing a defensive shuffle.

“I feel happy,” said Regina Howard, one of the Special Olympians who arrived sporting an Okafor jersey. “They have taken time out to show us how to do defense, offense and all of that. We learned some skills and some new drills.”

Some of the other drills the athletes learned included several different dribbling moves taught by point guards Brevin Knight and Kevin Burleson, proper passing techniques demonstrated by Bernard Robinson and Assistant Coach Gary Kloppenburg and a second shooting station led by three of the team’s best shooters -- Matt Carroll, Jumaine Jones and Alan Anderson.

“This is real refreshing,” commented Anderson. “You see a lot of enjoyment on their faces. Just a simple thing as giving a high-five makes you feel so good. It makes you feel real good to see how much happiness you bring to them.”

“This is a fantastic event,” said Megan O’Donnell, vice president of communications for the Special Olympics. “The Bobcats have done this for two years, and it just gets better every year. The athletes love it. They’re so into it. They’re high-fiving and doing the muscle pose. They had a great time today.”

“This is a great chance for our athletes to be out in the community,” said Bowler. “They’ll be talking about it this afternoon asking, ‘When are we going to do it next year?’”