Twin brothers from Bloomfield make NJ flag football team for Special Olympics

BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Derrick and Delon Noble started competing in the Special Olympics in 2009, and now, more than a decade later, the Bloomfield twin brothers will be representing the New Jersey flag football team at the national Special Olympics next year in Orlando, Fla. The two have been on the team before, coming home with a silver medal in 2014. Next year, they want to win the whole thing.

“I’m ready,” Derrick Noble, a quarterback on the team, said in a phone interview with The Independent Press on Oct. 10. “I’m excited to play again. I’m a competitive person.”

The brothers have also played on Special Olympics softball and basketball teams, on the state teams and at Bloomfield High School. Basketball is a favorite of both, but football ranks in the top three for both of them. Delon Noble is also a bowler. In every sport, they play together.

“I’m his other half,” Delon Noble said in a phone interview with The Independent Press on Oct. 10. As a running back and wide receiver, he hopes to be one of his brother’s main targets.

They had to try out for the team this past summer, and then the players who qualified were chosen at random. Both found out they made the team last week. Practices with the rest of the team start soon.

“We have to train, and then we play against other states,” Derrick Noble said. “I like being with other people.”

The brothers have made a lot of friends on the various teams they’ve played on and against. This time, opponents will be from all around the country.

“We make a lot of friends,” Delon Noble said. “It’s tiring, but I enjoy it.”

  FEATURED, Special Olympics