This past weekend, Jesse & I met our coach, and some of our teammates at Lee's Summit Planet Fitness. We were traveling to Springfield for Special Olympics Missouri Summer Games. Once we were on our way to Springfield, I remembered I forgot my water bottle! I called my parents and hoping they would bring our water bottles when they come to the opening ceremony. I'm very excited about the opening ceremony because Team MO team will be walking in as a team! Not every team MO athlete or unified partner or coach, was there for the Summer Games, but there was a good amount of us there. It was really enjoyable to be see team MO again, I still can't believe there is 24 days until the opening ceremony at the Special Olympics USA games! Ok, I'm getting off subject! Back to the summer games....The opening ceremony at the summer games...was AWESOME! Music was fantastic! We saw the athletes who got the outstanding award (they carried the SOMO flag in) There was 8 ALPS university athletes graduates! In that 8 athletes, we had 2 Team MO athletes. Shaquana Hobbs who is an athlete in Athletics and Tim Kunz who is on the softball team. I also passed out the surveys that I and my committee team came up with, i'm hoping I will get a good amount of reply's!
 |
| 30 days before the opening ceremony. |
On Saturday morning I woke up at 6:30am. The sun is shinning and I have my smiling face on! The day is going to be great! I asked my coach, if she had her coffee yet. She just laughed. I will be doing all of my events today. I will be competing in 100 meter run, 200 meter run, running long jump and shot put (sometimes I call it shot pot). They changed the times for the 200 meter runs and the rest of the runs to 6:45.pm on Saturday. It was really hot on that day, so I totally understood why they changed the times. After my third event, my main coach decided to go back to the dorms and to fresh up. (Which was a GREAT IDEA) Our parents took us out to eat, not very healthy food, but we need some calories because I'm about to run 200 meters in a few hours. When we got back from lunch, we went to the victory village, that was fun! Brett and I went around and played games, Brett painted. Brett loves the Pigs. (they race against each other) I was preparing myself for the 200 meter run. I'm not going to lie, I was nervous about the 200 meter run, I think it's a new thing and I always get nervous when I do something new. (I'm sure I'm not the only who feels that way) After the 200 meter run, we went to the dance and Jesse and I played Kickball, kickball was SO much fun! The dance was awesome too, it was nice to see my friends at the dance. Jesse loves to dance! I got one gold in running long jump, one silver in shot put, a bronze in the 100 meter run and a bronze in 200 meter run. Jesse did one event today, the event he did was standing long jump. I also visited the swimmers and saw from a far where TJ competed, he got all golds in his events, great job bud!
On Sunday I woke up at 6:50am. I pretty much pack up my stuff last night, but I finishing the packing in the morning. But the packing went fast! Then we all went to the track to watch the rest of the athletes to compete. Jesse competes in softball throw, 50 meter run and 100 meter walk. Everyone did a great job! Once everyone got done with their events we left, the time was around 12ish pm. The Lee's Summit team had lunch at Fireplace Subs (I've never been there) it was really good. I had the Italian sub. It was really good. I had a great weekend! Here's some great memories I experienced: getting medals in all of my events, seeing team MO again, taking a pic with Jesse (30 days until the opening ceremony), seeing friends, walking in the opening ceremony with Team MO, giving athletes the surveys, the best memory is when I ran the 200 meter, when I heard people cheering (that made me so happy)
 |
| Jeremiah (Basketball & I. |
WOW!! What a week I had at Special Olympics Missouri Sports Camp! Jesse and myself, always have a blast when we go to sports camp, but it's very tiring when we come back, but it's totally worth it! This year there weren't as many athletes that usually come in the past, but I'm glad I saw some younger athletes this time, it give them exposure what sports camp is. I think that is awesome, hope to see them at the next sports camp next year. Jesse and myself was on the same team, our team was called Royals, there were mostly team MO athletes, we had athletics (track and field), swimmers, bocce athletes, tennis athlete. This year the sports we participated in was, kickball, fishing, swimming, tennis, golf, flag football (which Jesse and I and the rest of team MO didn't participate in because we trained for the USA games) and they introduced a new sport, floorball, (someone from Texas came to camp and spend some days and taught us), disc golf. Everyday was the same schedule. On Thursday, I got to help Carol Griffin at healthy athletes. I got to pass out my surveys and help them explain what healthy eating is. So that was exciting! I did four times, because there was four teams. Some of the coaches said I did a great job presenting, so that was awesome to hear. We also tye dye shirts, that was a lot of fun! We were post to play softball for an evening activity, but that didn't happen, because of the rain. But maybe next time. My roommate was Emily Carroll, she is my teammate for TEAM USA for athletics, so that was fun rooming with her! One of the highlights I had at sports camp was when Jesse figured a way to serve the Tennis ball, that was so exciting to see! He was so happy, that he wanted to show Susan (the director of SOMO and for camp) I also got interviewed from someone in Columbia. So that was exciting. We usually have a relay night, but that didn't happen, again because of the rain. Instead, all of us went to the cafeteria and played card, and board games, some of the girls got their nails painted, it was neat how they did that. Coach Michelle showed us how to play a card game called "Garbage" it was interesting. The meals was very good. I had tuna and salad at every dinner, I think it was just me, that I thought it was healthy this time around, because I been eating healthy, maybe it was healthy in the past and I didn't notice. lol After one of the dinners, one athlete from Kirksville, his name is Ethan, he gave a speech about ALPs (Athlete Leadership Program's) he did a GREAT job! And at every meal time, an athlete from Columbia played the piano, and he played so beautifully. Everyone really enjoyed it! The dance on Thursday night was fun, I had a Michael Jackson shirt, I got a lot of people commented on the shirt. Jesse had a great time at the dance, he could danced all night, if he could! He sure did had his dancing shoes on! There was a lot of people on the dance floor and there was a good amount of people talking and sitting down and visiting. I packed up on Wednesday, and Thursday. I think I'm weird because I like to do get things down and not wait for the last minute. My mom always tells me that I should've been a girl scout. lol. We had two days to fish, and I caught a blue gill and I think Jesse did too, next year, my goal is to catch a catch fish. lol We also had a kickball tournament, and that was fun! I also got to help coach Peggy by being in her training video for new coaches that are coaching Tennis, so that was fun, I wasn't really good at tennis, but that's okay. When we had our track and field training sessions in the morning, we practiced our events we are doing at the USA games, I think I did pretty well, well...everyone did an awesome job! I wanted to practice my 200 meter run, I'm so nervous to do that event. But I did a pretty good job on it. Now! I think I'm ready to run it! I'm surprised my movband counted every steps I did everyday. I was worried that the movband wouldn't recorded the steps. Everyday Coach Michelle and I had this friendly competition who would get the most steps in that day, that was fun! Thanks Coach Michelle for pushing me to get my steps in! At every R & R time, I slept an hr every day, and at the end of the day, I fell right to sleep right away! I was exhausted, and I'm still exhausted, but I'm catching up! Please enjoy the pics! I'm getting ready for the National Games, which is like....5 days away!!! 
