Athletes head to Japan
Three members of the Utah State University Special Olympic Team are headed to Japan for the 2005 Special Olympic World Winter Games.
“This event, I would classify, as the Superbowl, World Series and Stanley Cup finals all rolled into one,” said David Bregenze, head coach for Special Olympics Team USA.
Patrick Philips, 27, Mary Dawn Waite, 32, and Sarah Wyatt, 14, were selected through a random pooling of gold medalists to represent Team USA in Nagano, Japan at the end of February.
“We heard about a year ago and we’ve just been real excited,” Dallin Phillips said about hearing his son, Patrick, was going to represent the United States in the Special Olympics World Winter Games. Patrick is a avid “USU athletics fan” and has been skiing with his family since he was in grade school, Dallin said. He will be competing in cross-country skiing in Nagano.
“He has no fear, he’ll be the first one to get out and go have fun,” said Greg Morris, head of delegations for USU’s special olympics team and a 25-year-old senior majoring in flight maintenance.
“No one has more fun working at USU,” Dallin said of Patrick’s job at the Pizza Hut at the Hub. He might seem fairly laid back at first glance, but he can always make people smile. He might be gently teasing the girls who work next to him at Hazel’s Bread or working hard organizing the fresh pizza by topping.
Patrick has been apart of the Special Olympics for 18 years and, like his teammates, loves it. When Bregenzer told him at work that he was going to Japan last spring, he immediately took off his apron and started walking out the door. Bregenzer had to stop and tell him about the rigorous training schedule and time period that would follow.
“You could learn a lot from him,” Phillips said.
Mary Dawn Waite will be competing in cross-country skiing with Patrick. Volunteers know her as “kinda quiet” but more like the “mom of the team,” Morris said.
Mary Dawn works at Hastings and has been competing with Special Olympics for 16 years. This is her second time at a world games – her first was in Anchoage, Alaska, according to her profile on the Team USA Web site. If someone’s hurt, Mary Dawn will always go up to them and make sure they are okay, said Matt Fairbanks, a senior majoring in physical education.
“Wow, I am excited. I have been trying to learn about Japan on the computer. I have people talk to me about going to Japan so I get to know more people,” Waite wrote in her online profile.
While Waite, Patrick and Wyatt have been practicing for their events since last year, USU’s service center coaches have been helping all of the athletes prepare for their events for the winter invitationals since early December.
The three soon-to-be world Olympians, definitely stand out, Fairbanks, a volunteer coach, said.
Fairbanks worked with Wyatt as a swim coach.
“When she was waiting to go, she was always calm,” he said. At 14 years old, she loves to help out, Fairbanks said.
The athletes have been following a rigorous training schedule since May. They traveled to Colorado in December to meet the rest of Team USA and to train, Bregenzer said.
Bregenzer quoted a Norwegian cross-country skiing Olympian, “‘If you want to succeed in this sport, you have to love the outdoors.’ [Patrick and Mary Dawn] sort of epitomize that,” he said.
“They get tired, for sure, but they never quit – never,” Bregenzer said.
Several of the venues that were used for the 1998 Winter Olympic Games will be used for these 2005 Special Olympics, including the M-Wave, or Nagano Olympic Memorial Arena, which will house the opening and closing ceremonies.
The cross country skiing and snowshoeing events will take place in Hakuba Village at Snow Harp in the Nagano area.
The athletes will leave Sunday, Feb. 20, after a send-off party. Utah is sending 10 athletes and four coaches that will join the 200 athletes and 89 coaches to make up Team USA.
“The Special Olympics is not about winning or losing. It’s not about winning at all,” Phillips said. “The motto for the Special Olympics is “Let me win; but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
-natandrews@cc.usu.edu