How Special were these Games?

I wanted to post last night when I got home, but I was too exhausted by the weekend that I couldn't muster the energy to come down and post! After a great night sleep in my own bed (instead of the memorable dorm room beds!!!) and a couple of naps on the couch I feel much better. Friday morning we met bright and early (coffee in hand) to start out on our first Summer Games weekend with 4 athletes from my Special Olympics teams. We had 3 athletes competing in track competitions and 1 athlete competing in Bocce Ball (a really fun yard game). We arrived in the beautiful town of Bloomington/Normal home of the ISU Redbirds (also my almamater) around 9:30 Friday morning. We registered and went straight to Watterson Towers; these towers are suppose to be dorm rooms, but they are so confusing to navigate that you need a degree just to find your room!!! We dropped off our luggage and we were off to start our weekend!
Sammy was the first competitor. She ran her 400 meter race at 1:40 and did AMAZING. She certainly set the precedence high for the other athletes. This is a snap shot of the final leg of the FULL LAP around the track! You can't see that she is actually competing against 4 other athletes because she is so far ahead. Way to go Sam, we are so proud of you! You will go down in Andrew History as the very first State Champion for Special Olympics.

Summer games is really cool because it hosts so many competition venues, they had power lifting, gymnastics, soccer, athletics, aquatics and bocce ball.

Friday evening they have Opening Ceremonies hosted on the ISU stadium field. If you look closely, you can see ANDREW HIGH SCHOOL marching in the parade of agencies. After the parade they have the final leg of the "torch run" in which police officers from around the state do the final run around the stadium. Over the last few months, police officers from around the state complete a torch run in their cities as a fundraiser for Special Olympics. Each year the torch run ends here because the Torches are used to light the "flame of hope". This flame not only is intended for inspiration but also for to mark the opening of this year's summer games! After the flame is lit, they recite the Special Olympic's oath; "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt". After opening ceremonies, we stayed to watch a few fireworks then we booked it back to the comfort of the Watterson Towers. We began Saturday morning bright and early after a restless night sleep (how I miss the dorm room bed from Hewitt hall!).

Mike was our first competitor on Saturday. He did a great job during his first game. He used strategies to beat out his competitor with a score of 12-7. Mike's second game was more challenging. Although Mike lost, he put up a great game for his competitor. Mike ended up winning a Silver medal (2nd place)! We are so excited for you Mike, it was a great pleasure to watch your skillz during your games!

Later that day (after we all got our sun for the day) we waited for Mary's competition. She was running the 200 meter dash. Mary had 8 girls in her division! You can see from this image how great she did as her competitors are blown away by her speed! She took Gold in her competition. Man we need to get going on our WALL OF FAME! I think Ramon was inspired by his female team mates. By 4:00 he was ready to RUN! Out of the 7 athletes in his race, he also came in first place! It was a photo finish as the second place athlete was right on his heels! Ramon gave it everything he had and it paid off! Another photo for the wall of fame!

I never knew that being a coach could be so rewarding. To see the smiles on each of the athletes faces and to hear the cheers from the fans and families is such an amazing feeling. I am so proud of each of you for all the hard work and dedication that you bring to the Andrew Special Olympics team. We have 3 photos to start our Andrew Wall of Fame and I can't wait for the years to come when we can keep adding the smiling faces of our proud athletes who WON STATE! Congratulations.

Karin, thanks so much for everything you've done for us this year. You've helped to develop the VJA Special Olypmics team into the champions we are! You're dedication and compassion does not go unnoticed. Thanks to Gina and Rich for coming along on our first summer games! We had a great time and hope that you did too! I only wish I took a picture of Gina driving through the Andrew fields as memorabilia (or evidence); I guess I can just ask the administration for a picture from their parking lot cams! :)