Alex's Track & Field Day . . .

Team Alex!

[. . . Also known as Special Olympics.]

Yesterday was the Special Olympics track and field day for the high school students in our area. I went as part of the Best Buddies club from my school (I was going to be with my buddy, who unfortunately wasn't able to come), but ended up spending the day with Alex and his peer coaches instead. I thought I would write an entry to reflect on the day.

The bus ride to the event was one of the best bus rides I've ever been on. Being on it, you wouldn't even realize that it was filled with a bunch of "DC Kids", because they were all intermixed with the other students who were attending the event. There was a lot of cheering for our school, so all in all it was a great way for us to get really pumped up about going to the track and field day.

When we got there, the first thing we did was sent up our tent, so that we would have a place to keep all of our things, and also have a shady place to rest in between our events. The tent was not the easiest thing to set up . . . It took quite a few of us to set it up, so it was great to see everyone work together. The students who were competing were just as helpful and needed as the staff and other students were; we all worked together to get our tent set up.

Then came the opening ceremonies! It was actually really cool - All the schools walked together onto the track as a giant group, including athletes, peer coaches, teachers, EA's, parents, and whoever else. It was really cool to see everyone together. The only criticism I had was that there were a lot of announcements, which didn't go over very well for people like Alex, who hate waiting. I realize that a lot of them were mandatory, but it would have still been personally easier for Alex, and other people who are like him.

Special Olympics is divided into three main categories: Track events, field events, and special events. Alex's first event was called "Spare Me", and was one of the "special events". Going into it we knew that it was going to be fairly similar to bowling, so that's what we told Alex. We went to the event and Alex did awesome! He actually had to take a basketball and bounce it to hit the plastic bowling pins . . . It was something new that he hadn't tried before, but still something that Alex already knew what to do. He won the bronze ribbon!

The second event that was on Alex's schedule was called "Slam Dunk" - so basketball. As we were finding the event, we were thinking that it was going to be a regular basketball net and that the students participating would be trying to get the ball in the net . . . Well, it was a child's plastic basketball net, which was actually shorter than 99% of the students who were competing. I found this event to be pretty juvenile, because I know that Alex could have done something that was much more worth it (like real basketball!). I know that a lot of the events were made so that people in wheel chairs could participate, but I'm sure accommodations could have been made in other ways too - rather than using a child's toy for high school students.

We skipped two of Alex's "special events" - Hackey sack and the "fishing derby". The fishing derby did not look exciting at all. It was a little kid's wading pool, with plastic fish in them.

Alex's first (well, only) field event was ball throw. So, we went up to where we were supposed to be, and signed him in with the man running the event. He took Alex's name tag, and put it on the list. Turns out we were three pages back from whoever had currently been throwing. 45 minutes later (which was a long wait for Alex), it was finally Alex's turn. So he went up, threw is three balls in less than a minute, and then it was time to go back to our tent to take a break. This is where it would have been really nice to have two separate ball throw events - one for people who were participating competitively (and throwing it really far!), and one for people like Alex who were just doing it for fun . . . Both groups would have been smaller, and it would have given students the choice of which group they wanted to be in.

The same sort of situation happened with Alex's 80 metre track event - We ended up getting shuffled to the back of the line, and therefore had to wait for a little while. But when he finally got running, he didn't stop! He was one of the few people who ended up having their peer coaches running with him, but he was still one of the best! He finished the race, and didn't have to hold their hands the entire time either!

Overall, Alex's track and field day (to him it doesn't matter that's held by Special Olympics, so it really doesn't make a difference to me either) went really really well! Although there were ways in which the events could have been improved, Alex still did an amazing job, and the day was a success! Alex's service dog, Pepsi, was with him by his side for most of the time, and Alex had two of the best peer coaches ever! Alex's track and field day was definitely an awesome one!