PICKERINGTON, Ohio - What does it mean to be special?
The quick answer is there is no one thing. It's everything from a feeling to an accomplishment.
"We just worked as a team," Nick Moore said. "We all came together."
Moore is the oldest on the team at 29 years. Kage Beresford, 12, is the youngest.
"My team - we were the champions even though I may be the youngest, but I'm a really good player," Beresford said.
They are two of 10 on the Pickerington Jaguars, which is a basketball team with Special Olympics Ohio.
This past weekend, for the first time in 20 years, the team not only made the playoffs, but won the state tournament with a championship win over Paulding County 42-38.
"It feels good," Zach Miller said.
"It feels good," Bryndan Jones said.
Monday evening, while at the team's bowling practice, state championship medals draped from their necks.
"It's really exciting," Kage Beresford said.
"Yeah, there was a celebration," Bryon Beresford said. "They're still celebrating today."
Bryon is the team's coach. He got into it two years ago when his son, Kage, who has autism, was old enough to join.
"Everybody sees on ESPN when they show one thing with a kid that does something and everybody's like 'Ah, how awesome is that'," Bryon said of the championship win. "I get to experience that 30 times in a season."
His players know it, too. More than that, they know the importance of inclusion.
"This is their chance to prove themselves," Ian Oberdorf said. "This is the chance to prove I've got the skill it takes to become an athlete."
As for the athletes, they all credit the coach for taking a chance, for bringing them together and for teaching them to play as a team.
But, if you ask the coach, he'll barely be able to find the words to show his appreciation for them.
"They're everything," he said.
Winning or losing - it doesn't matter.
"I never cared about winning," Terrell Ward said. "Only care about the game, that's it. Play the game I love."
It's not their ability. It's their self-worth and recognizing it and understanding that's what makes them all special.
"Oh, yeah," Bryon said. "They're a high-character class of kids."