Cheers roar from the bleachers and the crowd shoots to their feet as the second annual KHS Special Olympics commences. The first team strides into the gym, wonder etched on the athletes’ features at the fanfare before them. Eager grins stretch across their faces. Joy wells up in their eyes. They are superstars.
“We didn’t tell [the students in the crowd] to applaud,” Tom Gaither-Ganim, educational support counselor and Special Olympics organizer, said, describing the opening of the event. “They knew that by giving the kids that love and that excitement, it would make them feel great inside. That’s love.”
According to Special Olympics’ website, specialolympics.org, the purpose of the games are to give individuals with intellectual disabilities opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community. But the program doesn’t just offer opportunities to those with special needs. KHS students had the chance to participate as “buddy” helpers and team captains. According to Gaither-Ganim, buddies gained just as much from the event, if not more.
“They gain perspective that life doesn’t always provide a level playing field, but that we all deserve to enjoy our lives. In order for that to happen, we have to sometimes pick each other up,” Gaither-Ganim said.
Paige Sinclair, junior and buddy in this year’s Special Olympics, said she gained a deep sense of empowerment from helping the kids.
“The whole day all-around is just comradery,” Sinclair said. “It’s so enriching because you get to see them at their best. You get to talk to them one-on-one. You feel like a role model.”
However, some students were not able to have Sinclair’s experience. Only juniors and seniors were allowed to help as buddies in this year’s Special Olympics. Sara Guilfoy, sophomore, volunteers as a team leader with a similar program to Special Olympics called TASK (Team Athletics for Special Kids). She expressed disappointment that even with her experience, she could not help with the event.
“Although I do that kind of thing every week, I feel like it would have been really special to interact with an athlete in the Kirkwood Special Olympics,” Guilfoy said.
Aside from the disappointment of having to wait an additional year before she can apply, Guilfoy remains enthusiastic about the event and looks forward to participating next year.
Looking back on this year’s Special Olympics, Gaither-Ganim says the love and maturity he saw still makes him proud. He hopes that same love and enthusiasm for helping others will extend to daily life at KHS.
“Everyone brought so much of themselves that day. There was so much compassion, support and cheerleading for all of the kids,” Gaither-Ganim said. “I could think of no better way to improve the world than for all of us to join together and play to the highest aspect of our being by supporting, loving and cheerleading for each other in our daily lives. We all want to feel like superstars.”
A day in the life of a Special Olympics athlete (some athletes only took part in one event of individual skills)
9:45- Buses arrive in the Chopin parking lot.
10:15- Opening ceremonies begin in the David Holley assembly hall, including a parade of competing teams, speeches by athletes and the lighting of the torch.
10:55- First game begins on Court 2.*
11:20- Athlete visits the Victory Village to sing Karaoke, play games, visit face-painting stations and get their photo taken.
12:00- Team meets to eat lunch in the Health Room or the Wrestling Room.
12:25- Second game begins, either Championship round or Consolation round. All athletes receive medals after their final event.
1:00- Teams meet in the David Holley Assembly Hall and then are dismissed to the buses on the Chopin Lot.
*Games took place on Courts 1 and 2 in the David Holley Assembly Hall as well as Courts 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the Denver Miller Gym.
