Special Olympics Spirit
Most people aren’t smiling after they lose. This wasn’t the case for more than 180 athletes at the Fieldhouse and HPER Nov. 18. Then again this wasn’t the usual sporting event.
USU played host to one of the Special Olympics’ six annual statewide competitions offering four events for athletes to medal in and several other activities for anyone to just have fun with.
Rather than a cutthroat competition, athletes in Special Olympics try their best to do well, and congratulate each other, win or lose.
One athlete, Becca Shannon said her favorite parts of the Special Olympics are “friends and playing the game.”
While many athletes enjoy the sports, it seems like the relationships formed through the events are just as important to the competitors as any event they compete in.
Gary Saxton, an employee from the Special Olympics state office, said, “The athletes love seeing the same faces. They like relationships and friendships. They have good relations with other athletes, coaches and volunteers.”
It’s easy to see the camaraderie between athletes. They eat together at the food tables set up, help each other out of the swimming pool after the races and one man grinned excitedly as a woman won the gold medal in a swimming race then turned and announced to everyone, “She’s my girlfriend!”
In the side events that are set up for people to have some fun at, athletes help each other. In one place, athletes tried to throw a football through a tire. After a few minutes, one man turned to the other and showed him how to correctly throw a football.
It’s that kind of willingness to work together that characterizes Special Olympics athletes, said Melissa Halstead, the mother of one athlete.
“They love being friendly to everyone and giving loves,” she said. “They’re on a team, but they make friends with people from all over. They’re just competing and having fun and doing their best.”
Her daughter Hailey Halstead, 13, was the youngest participant at the weekend’s tournament. The Ogden girl said she likes making new friends and the people are “nice and friendly.”
The Halsteads got started with Special Olympics because Hailey’s uncle is a competitor, but friendships don’t just stay within the family, said Hailey Halstead, noting she has a friend from Texas she met through Special Olympics.
Athletes from any age and any place in Utah can compete, said Saxton. The four events that athletes could medal in were basketball, power lifting, swimming and gymnastics.
Saxton said competing in sports is valuable to the athletes. “It teaches them teamwork and to be good sports. They compete and win,” Saxton said.
But it’s not just the athletes that benefit from Special Olympics, Allyson Christensen, the leader of Salt Lake City Boy Scout Troop 349, said volunteering is very rewarding. Christensen said she enjoys helping out the athletes, making the competition run smoothly and watching how excited the athletes get.
Saxton said people can learn a lot from watching the participants in Special Olympics, like determination and the spirit of sportsmanship. About 300 people from Logan volunteered to help with Special Olympics.
Volunteers organized the events, awarded medals and kept the different activities running.
Athlete Ben Christensen said he likes competing and all of the people who come to the events.
“I just go and try my hardest. That’s what I do,” he said.