Ree
01-25-2009, 06:30 PM
Yesterday, I had the opportunity of volunteering once again with Special Olympics.
It's an annual event for our service club, and this was our 10th year, but because I used to work every Saturday, I have only had the opportunity to volunteer for about 2 or 3 years now.
I had attended part of an event a few years ago with my youth club, and I was so impressed at that time.
There was an athlete still doing the snowshoe track when we arrived. There were about 3 other athletes who had already completed it, but instead of standing there gloating that they had either won or placed, they stood there, cheering on this last competitor, encouraging and clapping, until he finished. We watched him do 2 laps, and it was a 5 lap race, so he was obviously very far behind the others, but instead of just giving up, he kept going.
That was my first experience, although I had certainly heard about the incredible sportsmanship that was a major part of special Olympics.
A few years ago, before I got involved with the youth group, my daughter was a member of the youth group, and my husband was a part of the sponsoring service club, so they had been volunteering for years, and they would tell me stories.
One year, a member of the youth group, who was a pretty "cool dude", always clowning and being a smartass, was helping with the timing and running timecards inside.
There was a girl competing, and it was another situation where she was laps behind the others.
At times, she would just stand, not really quitting, but so tired and not wanting to quit, but not really sure if she could go on.
This young boy went over to the side of the track where she was, and he spent the next 10 minutes in extreme cold, walking beside her and encouraging her until she had completed the track.
Yesterday, there was one of the athletes who had just completed chemo for cancer.
She insisted on competing.
She did one race and then her coach was concerned about her so she scratched her from the rest of the races.
She was so tired.
At the end of the day she said, "I had so much fun."
There were 2 girls who always end up competing against each other in their races, but they are the best of friends.
One of them always takes first place, and the other always takes second, but they each cheer and shout the loudest when the other gets presented with their ribbons.
The first girl was talking to my friend and me, and she was asking what people meant when they said people have a disability, or that they are challenged, because she didn't understand. She said, "I don't know what they mean because I'm just me."
She said, when she is waiting for her bus, sometimes the school kids will call her a "retard", but she doesn't understand what that is.
My friend and I just laughed when the second girl spoke up and said, "Oh, you know that just means they are immature and they are the ones with the problem. They have a disability."
I thought it was so great.
What a healthy attitude to have.
I forgot to mention, it was -17 Celcius, and with the windchil, it was probably close to -30 or -35 Celcius.
I didn't hear one athlete complain about the cold, but my group of kids did nothing but whine all day long about how cold it was.
It's an annual event for our service club, and this was our 10th year, but because I used to work every Saturday, I have only had the opportunity to volunteer for about 2 or 3 years now.
I had attended part of an event a few years ago with my youth club, and I was so impressed at that time.
There was an athlete still doing the snowshoe track when we arrived. There were about 3 other athletes who had already completed it, but instead of standing there gloating that they had either won or placed, they stood there, cheering on this last competitor, encouraging and clapping, until he finished. We watched him do 2 laps, and it was a 5 lap race, so he was obviously very far behind the others, but instead of just giving up, he kept going.
That was my first experience, although I had certainly heard about the incredible sportsmanship that was a major part of special Olympics.
A few years ago, before I got involved with the youth group, my daughter was a member of the youth group, and my husband was a part of the sponsoring service club, so they had been volunteering for years, and they would tell me stories.
One year, a member of the youth group, who was a pretty "cool dude", always clowning and being a smartass, was helping with the timing and running timecards inside.
There was a girl competing, and it was another situation where she was laps behind the others.
At times, she would just stand, not really quitting, but so tired and not wanting to quit, but not really sure if she could go on.
This young boy went over to the side of the track where she was, and he spent the next 10 minutes in extreme cold, walking beside her and encouraging her until she had completed the track.
Yesterday, there was one of the athletes who had just completed chemo for cancer.
She insisted on competing.
She did one race and then her coach was concerned about her so she scratched her from the rest of the races.
She was so tired.
At the end of the day she said, "I had so much fun."
There were 2 girls who always end up competing against each other in their races, but they are the best of friends.
One of them always takes first place, and the other always takes second, but they each cheer and shout the loudest when the other gets presented with their ribbons.
The first girl was talking to my friend and me, and she was asking what people meant when they said people have a disability, or that they are challenged, because she didn't understand. She said, "I don't know what they mean because I'm just me."
She said, when she is waiting for her bus, sometimes the school kids will call her a "retard", but she doesn't understand what that is.
My friend and I just laughed when the second girl spoke up and said, "Oh, you know that just means they are immature and they are the ones with the problem. They have a disability."
I thought it was so great.
What a healthy attitude to have.
I forgot to mention, it was -17 Celcius, and with the windchil, it was probably close to -30 or -35 Celcius.
I didn't hear one athlete complain about the cold, but my group of kids did nothing but whine all day long about how cold it was.