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Doc Rivers Participates at Special Olympics 2015

Rowan Kavner

LOS ANGELES – Head coach Doc Rivers made it a point all season to remind everyone about the Special Olympics World Summer Games taking place in Los Angeles. It’s now late July, and the Games have arrived, with Rivers on hand to watch and take part.

Back in January during the season, the Clippers hosted and spoke with Special Olympian Tairek, who attended a practice six months prior to the start of the Summer Games.

“The neatest thing is the pure stuff you get from the kids,” Rivers said. “They tell you the truth. There’s no filter, and their joy is amazing. They want to win, but a lot of them want to finish. It says a lot. I’m deeply involved.”

The Special Olympics have had a place in Rivers’ heart for a while. He’s been on the board, and he was a flag carrier when the Special Olympics took place in Connecticut. This year’s Summer Games feature competitions in 25 Olympic-style sports throughout the Los Angeles region, involving 6,500 athletes and 2,000 coaches representing 165 countries, along with 30,000 volunteers.

All year, Rivers has tried to raise awareness for the Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles.

“We need the excitement in this city, and we need people to come out,” Rivers said back in January. “Kids from all over the world are coming. We’ve got to get our hands in this, I think everybody in L.A. This is a really neat thing for the city of L.A., to showcase the city of LA, but more importantly for these kids.”

The Games began this weekend, and on Monday, Rivers took part in the Celebrity Game. He’ll be an onlooker all week for the Games and will be involved in the medaling later in the week. Here are some photos of Rivers’ involvement from the Celebrity Game.