Thomas Shervington is one busy kid. But, that’s to be expected of any nine-sport athlete.
Tennis, bowling, bocce, softball, soccer, flag football, basketball, golf and baseball take up quite a bit of his time and, although he’s a little shy about the subject, Shervington, 16, doesn’t need to say much about his talents. His play, along with the five medals he’s won, can do plenty of talking for him.
Now, having conquered Florida’s tennis skills competition, this young man is ready to play for medal number six in a completely new manner.
This weekend’s Special Olympics-Hillsborough Area 8 Summer Games will have Shervington travel to USF to play in singles competition for the first time ever.
DABBLING AROUND
In addition to his work on the playing fields, Shervington shines in the classroom. He’s an honor student at Tampa’s Pepin Academy — where he already had been accepted into before moving to Plant City — and is also involved in the school’s drama club.
Just by looking at Shervington, though, one can tell that he’s a natural-born athlete. He stands at about 6-foot-3, weighs in at 185 pounds and wears a size-15 shoe that sometimes has to be ordered online. He’s also a two-sport letterman at Pepin, earning them in soccer and baseball. Learning to adapt to so many different sports hasn’t been too difficult for him — he’s built to be able to play anything.
He got his start three years ago with Brandon TOPSoccer — a league for special-needs players through age 25. Shervington, who has Asperger’s syndrome, picked up the sport and fell in love with it. He learned to play forward in this league, because of a love for working with the ball and scoring, and eventually took his game to Pepin, where he is currently a midfielder.
A few games into his TOPSoccer career, a friend told Shervington and his father, Tom, about the Special Olympics basketball scene. This is where the elder Shervington got his coaching start.
“We showed up to a practice, and Thomas is doing his thing, and I’m just sitting on the bench,” Tom says. “I didn’t play in high school, but I know the game a little bit. I was giving Thomas some advice, and then I was offered an assistant coaching position.”
When Thomas’s handle for the roundball game improved, he decided to try his hand in competition. Special Olympics basketball events are essentially skills competitions, and Thomas performed well enough to win silver twice.
Not long after breaking into the basketball scene, the Shervingtons heard about softball. Although Thomas has performed well in the sport, winning a bronze medal, this is the one his father gets more excited about. As the head coach, the elder Shervington loves two things: getting the most out of his players and winning.
“We’ll make the state games,” he says confidently.
After softball, according to Tom, everything just kind of snowballed. Hillsborough has a wide variety of sports available for special-needs athletes and in two different divisions: Traditional (special-needs athletes only) and Unified (a mixture of special-needs and non-special-needs athletes). In Plant City, all Special Olympics sports fall in the Unified category.
Although Thomas has a good grasp of the other sports and claims soccer as his favorite, he’s found the most success in his tennis game so far.
GOING FOR GOLD
It wasn’t his first sport, but it brought him to his first Special Olympics medal.
Thomas’s competition results also serve as a measurement of progress, because of the way Special Olympics tennis is conducted.
“Skills are taught first, and then everything comes together in the competition,” Tom says.
There are seven basic skills that these athletes must learn for these events: the forehand volley, the backhand volley, the forehand groundstroke, the backhand groundstroke, serving on a deuce court and an advantage court, and alternating groundstrokes with movement — moving from side to side on the court and hitting on forehands and backhands. Athletes are graded on their accuracy and positioning, with most areas going up to 10 points.
The first time Thomas tried the competition, he won a bronze medal. He was happy about the win, but knew he could do better eventually. He got another shot last year, and he made that one count. He put all of his focus into that event, coming away with a nearly perfect score and a shiny, new gold medal.
“That was my very first gold medal,” Thomas says. “I was very excited. My arms were up in the air. My dad was very proud of me.”
That performance was all his coaches needed to see. Not long after the win, Thomas was promoted to the singles team.
“I’m hoping to do well, qualify for states and see what division I fall in,” Thomas says.
That’s about a month and a half away — May 16-18, to be exact — and it’s a weekend that both father and son likely have circled on their calendars.
But, for now, all that matters for Thomas is this weekend. And, if he’s as focused now as he was in his last tennis competition, he has a chance to pick up that sixth medal.
Contact Justin Kline at jkline@plantcityobserver.com.
AREA GAMES
Special-needs athletes from throughout Tampa Bay will compete in the Area 8 Summer Games Saturday, March 29, at the University of South Florida. The competition features events such as tennis, bocce, soccer, volleyball, track and field, and more.
The opening ceremony is at 9 a.m., with action slated to begin at 10. There is no charge for admission.
The Plant City Raiders Unified Basketball Team will be selling refreshments during the event as a fundraiser for an upcoming competition in June, in Trenton, N.J. The trip will cost $20,000. Donations also cane be sent in care of Special Olympics Hillsborough County, 4023 Armenia Ave., Suite 280, Tampa, FL. 33606. Write “National Basketball Team” in the check memo.
For more, email team coach Sandy Denham at sandra.denham@sdhc.k12.fl.us.
For more information about Special Olympics, visit specialolympicshillsborough.org.