They form a curious and seemingly unlikely combination, a group of smokejumpers and a set of athletes with cognitive disabilities.

And yet, members of those two demographics have joined forces in Central Oregon in recent years, and the outcome is a swelling Special Olympics basketball program based in Redmond.

“I do it a lot for myself just as much as I do it for the athletes,” Gabe Mason said, after a recent Tuesday practice, about coaching. “I get as much mental benefit out of it as they do.”

Mason, 35, is head coach of the Mountain Lions and one of about a half-dozen locally based smokejumpers who serve as coaches for the Mountain Lions, members of Special Olympics Oregon’s High Desert chapter, which comprises Deschutes and Crook counties. A part-time resident of Prineville — where he lives when he isn’t parachuting out of planes to fight wildland fires in Alaska — Mason has been a coach with the Redmond program for six years.

At that recent Tuesday practice, held at Highland Baptist Church in west Redmond, about 20 team members turned out in preparation for the Mountain Lions’ upcoming Winter Regional Indoor Games basketball tournament, which will be held this Saturday in Turner, just south of Salem. A second basketball team from Central Oregon, one based in Bend, is also scheduled to participate.

During practice, the Redmond Special Olympians worked on their skills just as any other players would, dribbling basketballs off the church gym’s carpeted floor, performing drills and scrimmaging against one another — and against the coaches on hand, who also included the father and sister of one of the Mountain Lion players. (Being a smokejumper is not a requirement to coach.)

At Saturday’s tournament, players will be divided into smaller teams based on ability level and understanding of the game. They will take part in full-court five-on-five games, half-court three-on-three games or individual skills competitions.

Mason began working with disabled populations while attending Oregon State University. When he started coaching in the Redmond program the team had dwindled to just five players. But now, about 30 Special Olympians from Redmond, Prineville and Powell Butte fill out the Mountain Lions’ roster.

Becoming involved created an immediate impression. One of Mason’s favorite memories took place at a tournament during his first year of coaching in Redmond, with an athlete who no longer plays for the Mountain Lions.

“This guy loved basketball so much that he once showed up with his shoes on the wrong feet, and he didn’t even slow down to take them off,” Mason recalled. “He loved basketball.”

That Special Olympian also tended to be a bit of a ball hog, as Mason put it. In one game at the tournament, at both the end of regulation play and the end of the first overtime, the player would not give up the ball and took two ill-regarded shots that missed.

During a timeout at the end of the second overtime, Mason looked directly at the player and instructed him to pass the ball.

So, the player proceeded to hoist another shot.

“It was so beautiful,” Mason said. “It went around the rim several times and went in. And the crowd was — it was like the Celtics won. It was so electric, and I remember it so clearly. We talked about it for years. But that’s what sold me on basketball.”

Mason believes the team’s numbers have continued to increase since that year thanks to consistency in the coaching staff and a group of guardians who network well and agree with the coaches’ philosophy.

“If we can have fun and if we’re burning calories — that’s the two things that we shoot for,” Mason explained.

A few seasons ago, as the team grew in size, Mason looked for additional coaches to keep pace.

He recruited a neighbor, Marcel Potvin, whom he knew from working together at one point on a local “Hotshots” crew — a team of firefighters that attacks wildland fires from the ground level. Mason said Potvin was instrumental in persuading some of his smokejumper co-workers at the Redmond base to volunteer, which they are still doing today.

One of the smokejumpers Potvin recruited, Geoff Schultz, 33, is in his first season coaching with the Mountain Lions. He said he plans to travel with the team to Saturday’s tournament.

“It sounded like they were needing some coaches, and I was around for the winter,” Schultz explained of his reasoning to start coaching. “Why not?”

The experience has proved to be an enjoyable one.

“It’s been good,” Schultz said. “It’s really rewarding. All the athletes are great people to be around. I really enjoy participating.”

Cruz Brigham, 18, is one of the players who has benefited from the coaches’ influence. The Redmond resident is in his second year with the Mountain Lions. Brigham, who went to Redmond High School and now attends Central Oregon Community College, had prior basketball experience but, he said, he did not shoot the ball well when he joined the team.

The coaches worked with him individually to improve his shooting, and also instructed him in ballhandling and defense.

“Those guys really showed me how to play, and play like a team,” Brigham said.

And on Saturday, Brigham and his Mountain Lion teammates will get the chance to implement in competition what they have learned from those coaches.

“We all want to play hard and just have fun,” Brigham explained. “That’s what basketball is all about. It’s not about winning — well, it kind of is — it’s not really about winning. It’s about, win or lose, just go out there, have fun, work as a team, meet new people.

“That’s what basketball’s all about.”

Contact information

Special Olympics Oregon

www.soor.org

503-248-0600

High Desert chapter

541-749-6517

soor503@gmail.com