Let the games begin — UI welcomed hundreds for the 2015 Idaho Special Olympics State Summer Games

Kathy Berger, president of the Board of Directors for Special Olympics Idaho, said the purpose of the Special Olympics is inclusion through athletics.

“Sports is used as a way for inclusion, through the Special Olympics,” Berger said. “You know, sports gets everybody out. Everybody loves sports.”

Last Saturday, the University of Idaho campus hosted hundreds of athletes and their families and teams for the 2015 Idaho Special Olympics State Summer Games. Berger said UI was a great venue for the Special Olympics.

“It’s just a fabulous venue,” she said. “Gosh, we’ve just got all the sports going on right here, in a vicinity where everyone can walk to everything. Yeah, it’s a fabulous place.”

Berger said the athletes could compete in multiple different sporting events at various places on campus, including some sports that had never been offered at a previous Special Olympics event before this year.

Flag football

Erin Bamer | Argonaut Andrew Spicer, left, and Josh Howell, right, stand next to the UI SprinTurf to support their flag football team, the Ghostbusters. They played against another team, Four Rivers Saturday.

Erin Bamer | Argonaut
Andrew Spicer, left, and Josh Howell, right, stand next to the UI SprinTurf to support their flag football team, the Ghostbusters. They played against another team, Four Rivers Saturday.

Berger said her favorite event at the Special Olympics this year was flag football. This was the first year they offered it, she said, so it’s in a trial state currently, but it may become a regular event in the future.

Flag football was offered as a unified sport this year, which means each team was made up of a mix of athletes, some with intellectual disabilities and some without, Berger said.

Josh Howell, 11, and Andrew Spicer, 27, were part of one of the flag football teams that competed Saturday. They played on Team Ghostbusters.

Howell said this year was his first in the adult competition for the Special Olympics, but prior to this year he spent two seasons on a youth flag football team with his brother. He said he finds flag football fun, but he wants to try tackle football when he gets older.

“I’ve always played flag,” Howell said. “My mom’s scared I’m gonna get hurt … but I wanna try tackle.”

This year was Spicer’s first year back at the Special Olympics as a partner player after taking five years off. Being a partner means he doesn’t have an intellectual disability and is instead on the team to help his fellow teammates with disabilities.

Both Spicer and Howell said their favorite part about the flag football event is the team aspect of it.

“We’re just out here to have fun,” Spicer said. “Everybody’s a team. You got no negative atmosphere — it’s all positive. It’s just a big family.”

Jake Coates, 27, played on the opposing flag football team, Four Rivers. He said the Four Rivers team competes in other sporting events at the Special Olympics aside from flag football, including basketball and Coates’ personal favorite, hockey.

“I think floor hockey is a little bit better (than flag football) because you get to score more,” Coates said.

Coates has spent multiple years playing for the Special Olympics. He said he likes playing sports because it keeps him active and gives him something to do outside of his house. He also said he likes playing with his team.

“It’s a good team,” Coates said. “I like our team. We’re one of the best — maybe we are the best.”

Swimming

Erin Bamer | Argonaut Left to right, Susan Ketchum, Lauren Schmellick, Paul Hemker and Bryan Jackson stand on the awards podium outside of the UI Swim Center Saturday during the Idaho Special Olympics.

Erin Bamer | Argonaut
Left to right, Susan Ketchum, Lauren Schmellick, Paul Hemker and Bryan Jackson stand on the awards podium outside of the UI Swim Center Saturday during the Idaho Special Olympics.

Susan Ketchum, venue director for the aquatics section of the Special Olympics, said the swimming events were just like any other competitive swim meets. There were races that required the athletes to swim different lengths with different styles. She said the only difference was the unified division of relay races.

Paul Hemker, 28, and Lauren Schmellick, 27, both competed in the relay races as part of Team Idaho. They each competed separately in single events as well. Hemker said he finished third in the 50-meter freestyle and Schmellick said she finished first in the backstroke.

Neither of them are novices when it comes to the Special Olympics. Though Schmellick said this is her first year swimming, she has competed in golf and track and field events and even competed in the World Special Olympics in 2011.

Hemker said he has been swimming since he was 21, but he has also competed in the floor hockey event.

Like the flag football athletes, both Hemker and Schmellick said they enjoy the team aspects of the sports they play in the Special Olympics. Schmellick said she specifically likes the amount of support she receives from her team and the spectators.

“In Special Olympics everybody cheers everybody on,” Ketchum said.

Basketball

Shanna Endow, vice president for education and outreach for the Special Olympics, said the basketball events held multiple divisions for athletes. There was the developmental division, competitive and unified.

David Betts | Argonaut
Athletes and their families unwind to some music at the post competition dance held in the Kibbie Dome. The Idaho Special Olympics took place June 20.

Caitlin Spencer, 17, Kerigan Smith, 16, Ryan Murdock, 18, Cheyenne Burkett,16, and Tristan Crowl, 18, all played for the unified Mountain View High School basketball team. Spencer, Smith, Murdock and Crowl played as partner competitors.

Spencer, who is starting as a freshman at UI in the fall, said the team has been practicing for the Special Olympics since January and even hosted a unified tournament at Mountain View previous to the Olympics.

Burkett said she has been playing basketball since she was in fourth grade, but she specifically likes playing basketball with her Mountain View team.

“I’m not very social,” Burkett said. “The basketball team we have, it’s kind of like another family, in a way. We’re all really close in certain ways, so it’s like we’re a family. We all get along.”
Spencer said the partner athletes act as assistance to the other members of the team.

For example, Murdock works one-on-one with one of the other athletes, Jake, who has down syndrome, although not all of the athletes need one-on-one help. Burkett said in the early stages of their practices Jake wouldn’t do anything if Murdock wasn’t there.

“We’re always motivating them to do better,” Murdock said. “With Jake, it was hard for him to dribble the ball, so we worked on that skill. So we were always pushing him to do better and try things he’s not comfortable with to test his ability with basketball and other stuff.”

Burkett said she likes working with her team because they’re all so different. She gave the example that she is more skilled at dribbling, while other athletes like Jake are better at shooting baskets.

“My goal is just to get the word that even kids that can’t do what other kids can do, they can still do some things,” Burkett said.

Erin Bamer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ErinBamer

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