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Special Olympics swim team gets a loving sendoff

 
Beth Langley, a swim coach for the Pinellas County Special Olympics Aquatics Team gives her son Rhatz Langley, 33, a hug before the team left Pinellas Park. SCOTT KEELER   |   TIMES

Beth Langley, a swim coach for the Pinellas County Special Olympics Aquatics Team gives her son Rhatz Langley, 33, a hug before the team left Pinellas Park. SCOTT KEELER | TIMES
Published Oct. 4, 2014

The Giving Tree Club of Pinellas Park High School honored the Pinellas County Special Olympics Aquatics Team on Friday with treat bags, complete with water bottles, before the group left the Walmart supercenter parking lot in Pinellas Park for the upcoming state championships. Twenty-three swimmers are traveling by bus to the games in Vero Beach this weekend. "The athletes work hard for this, and it is a great opportunity for them to compete," said swim coach Beth Langley, whose blind son Rhatz, 33, will compete in the 200-meter freestyle and backstroke. The giveaway was arranged by Giving Tree Club president Aimee Sinclair, along with board members Holly Tidd, Annette Rumas, Sharez Sohail and James Hardison. The club's purpose is to promote generosity and advocacy.