North Texas foundation teams up rival high schools to coach special needs athletes

    NORTH TEXAS, Texas (KTVT) -- Friday night lights shine bright in North Texas as the high school football season gets underway, and nothing is stronger than a high school football rivalry.

This weekend, eight of the biggest rival high schools in North Texas are putting their animosity aside and joining together to coach and cheer on teams of special needs athletes.

It's an event put on by the Tara Sawyer Foundation, which CBS News Texas anchor Madison Sawyer is closely connected to.

TSF was started over 20 years ago, in memory of Madison's husband's sister, Tara Sawyer, who contracted a deadly water amoeba while swimming with her brothers in a North Texas lake.

"It tragically took her life in a matter of days," April Benjamin, a volunteer with the foundation, said. "So the Sawyer family and friends started this organization to honor Tara."

Tara Sawyer's love for sports fuels the foundation's mission.

"The Tara Sawyer Foundation is a nonprofit organization that is committed to supporting and empowering youth, children and families in need," Benjamin said. "Our goal is really to help all children be able to participate in extracurricular activities, which we know will improve the quality of their life."

The foundation supports youth by giving away tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships and equipment each year to children in need who want to participate in extracurricular activities

A team of special needs athletes from Arlington, the MAC Gators, is one of the teams the foundation has supported for over a decade.

MAC Gators coach, David Curtis, said the foundation's support has helped them travel to special needs tournaments around the country.

"We believe in traveling like a team, eating like a team, we all travel down as a team, and stay in the same motel," Curtis said. "We want to give them the true team experience that, that other athletes get all the time."

Chris Curtis has played for the MAC Gators for nearly 20 years.

"It's like a big family," Chris Curtis said. "We get to have fun, we get to compete, we get together in the state games, and it's fun."

For 25 years, the MAC Gators have allowed special needs athletes to play sports and be a part of a team.

This weekend, the MAC Gators will step onto the court at Game On Sports in West Fort Worth to play in the Teamed up for TSF event, where teams of special needs athletes from around North Texas team up with student-athletes and cheerleaders from eight rival high schools.

"It's a chance for our high school athletes to put their rivalries aside and be there for our amazing athletes," Benjamin said. "They also to learn and celebrate athletes of all ages and all abilities."

David Curtis said the sense of belonging his special needs athletes get from interacting with the high school athletes is unmatched.

"I mean, they are sitting there talking, playing, cutting up, joking with our athletes and all the other Special Olympic athletes and so it really puts us on the same playing field," David Curtis said.

The Teamed Up for TSF event is happening Saturday, Sept. 14, at Game On Sports in West Fort Worth from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

The public is invited to attend, cheer on and support the athletes from around North Texas who will be competing in basketball, volleyball and kickball.