Special Olympics 2009
A brisk wind swept billowing clouds across intensely blue skies and the grass glinted this bright Friday morning as buses, cars, vans and trucks dropped off the two hundred and fifty participants and over three hundred volunteers and staff, at the Skyway Middle School on May 15, for the 2009 Special Olympics. As a first-time watcher, I got so excited waiting, that I wanted to start cheering just when the middle school band came out.
Opposite the bleachers, the various schools and workshops gathered into their own groups. Then the band, sporadic sunshine glinting off their brass instruments, led the parade—and very good they were! Each town had its own banner-carriers leading their people in wheel chairs, or walking, or pushing wheeled-walkers. They may have had various degrees of impairment, but there was enthusiasm, determination and a smile on every face.
A sixth grader, with an incredible voice, sang the national anthem. A ten year old boy had won the right to carry the torch and, with Fireman Fred, ran in with the torch to light the flame. Rev. Phelps, from the Mapleton United Baptist church, said the opening prayer, and then the Skyway Middle School principal declared that the 2009 Special Olympic Games were now officially opened.
In the first race, a little girl with a smile as big as she was, ran alone down the track but then a taller young man came loping down the track just delightedly smiling, and everybody cheered him too. That’s the way it was all day. Every competitor was cheered and every cheer deserved.
I wept when I saw one young man lagging last in his race, pushing his wheeled walker as best he could, get an even bigger grin on his face when he realized that everyone was cheering him and he pumped those thin, twisted limbs in a sudden burst of speed, as he raced over the last twelve inches of track! His face was just beaming but I doubt that I was the only one in tears at such an extreme show of heart.
There was the guy who pranced on the softball-throwing field just like Rocky reaching the top steps in that movie, and the funny scene when one proud lady told her Down Syndrome grandson to show off his muscles; the young man obligingly grinned and bent over, put his thumbs in his mouth, crooked his arms, and blew as if pumping up his muscles, we all laughed delightedly and so did he.
There was one race in which a tall, slender male was loping down the track, grinning at everyone, when one plump lady came pounding down the track and past him like he was standing still. Both were very proud of their feat. There must have been any number of telling scenes at all the events, but I would have had to be triplets at least, to see it all. That last particular lady, I noticed, seemed to put every fiber of her being into her events, but then, so did they all. Their shining enthusiasm made sport fans of us all. People seem to spend thousands of dollars on supposed-pro athletes and those sports, but for your real money’s worth of excitement, enthusiasm and love of the game, I don’t think you can beat these athletes in the Special Olympics!
Caribou
