Special Olympics

I have had the privilege the last couple of days to volunteer for the Special Olympics. Idaho was selected as the site for the 2009 Special Olympics World Games. As a kind of trial run for those games, they are holding a winter invitational this week. There are athletes from all over the nation and the world - Kuwait, China, Rhode Island, etc. with plenty of athletes from Idaho. Having volunteered for the SLC Winter Olympics in 2002, the volunteer experience of these Special Olympics games have seemed super unorganized to me. Everything from waiting in line for 2 hours to get my schedule to arriving at the opening ceremonies yesterday and nobody knowing where I was supposed to go. But watching the events, I have really been able to put that behind me. Yesterday, I had the honor of walking out onto the floor of the Opening Ceremonies with the Chinese athletes and delegates. You could tell they were so excited to be there. It was amazing to be a part of that. And today I volunteered at the floor hockey event. I was the "keeper of the gate" - each 9 minute period was broken into 3 minute segments to rotate the athletes. When the buzzer went off every three minutes, I opened the gate to let them off the floor, cheering and giving high-fives as they passed by. I've included a short clip of the Kuwait vs. Lewiston, ID game. These athletes truly were inspiring to watch, and I can't wait for the opportunity to volunteer at the World Games next year.