Team USA Delegation Salutes Vanderbilt University Following Top-Notch Training Camp
Nashville's Vanderbilt University has much to be proud of as they recently held a fabulous Special Olympics World Games training camp for Team USA's 400 athletes and 150 coaches in mid-July.
Coaches prepared their training regiments as, for some, the camp offered the first chance for them to meet their athletes for each of the sports. With training sites on and off the campus, athletes not only practiced their skills, but also had a chance to check out scenery around Nashville, including one evening at the Triple AAA league Nashville Sounds baseball game. The Team USA delegation also took in some Chinese culture and witnessed the Team USA fashion show, featuring athlete models showing off the competition and casual wear the delegation will be seen wearing in China during the Games.
With a live acoustic performance from Team USA spokesperson and country singer JoDee Messina and appearances throughout the camp by Olympic skater Scott Hamilton and Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the athletes were in the spotlight with media from the Nashville area as well as around the nation!
Check out photos from Training Camp at www.specialolympicsteamusa.org!
Athlete Looks Forward to Return Trip to ChinaBy Athlete Rhily Simkin
Editor's Note: Team USA athletics athlete Rhily Simpkin of Illinois continues in her role as a writer for the Team USA newsletter.
I interviewed an athlete who is going to China this year to compete in bowling. The athlete's name is Isadore Silk – everybody calls her Izzy.
Izzy is 30 years old and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Izzy lives alone and is a cashier at Rite-Aid pharmacy and has been working there for 2½ years. Her hobbies are crafts, playing games and hanging out with friends and family.
She has been in Special Olympics for seven years. She has competed in tennis, soccer, basketball, track and bowling. Izzy says she likes bowling the most. Izzy's proudest moment is when she bowled a 211 during practice.
Izzy competed in the Pre-Games last year in China and she liked it very much over there.
Last year, Izzy said when the whole team was together, they went to some schools. Then the bowlers got to go in a cab and got to see some statues and some monuments. She even got to see other athletes who were competing in the games too. Izzy said that if they get to do more sight-seeing, she would like to see different things than last year.
Izzy keeps in touch with one of her Pre-Games volunteer through e-mail. The name of her volunteer is Hebe (pronounced Hibby). She also keeps in touch with some athletes she has made friends with. Her coach Bea Webb helps anyone who has had a question about bowling.
I asked Izzy how she felt about more countries competing in the 2007 World Games and she said it would be more interesting and she will be able to make more friends from other countries. Izzy practices every other Saturday for the China games. She said that when she comes home, she looks forward to seeing her family since they will not be able to go to China.
I asked her about what she thought about the Chinese culture and she said that it was the best experience she has ever had.
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| Assistant Bowling Coach "Bea" Webb (center) stands with her athletes Isadore "Izzy" Silk, Jenna Schrack, Suzanne Rowley and Melanie Norris outside a bowling facility in Nashville, Tenn. |
Athlete Achievement Key for Bowling Assistant Coach 'Bea' Webb
Berma "Bea" Webb has plenty of experience interacting with Special Olympics athletes – she has been a recreational therapist with Jackson County Parks & Recreation's special population services for 28 years and was a Special Olympics volunteer before that.
Plus, she is a member of the Special Olympics Missouri board of directors, is certified to coach 14 sports, volunteers and helps with fundraisers in the Kansas City metro area. Webb was a coach at the 1987 and 1999 World Games and attended the 2003 World Games in Ireland as a spectator.
Whether it be her special populations clients, her Special Olympics Unified sports teams or the World Games athletes, Webb wants them all to achieve their highest potential.
When Bowling Head Coach Dennis Story returned from the Pre-Games event last year, he turned to Webb to work with some of the athletes, including Pennsylvania athlete Isadore "Izzy" Silk (see her story in this newsletter.)
The two women began a long-distance relationship that eventually brought them together in person at Special Olympics Oklahoma's state bowling tournament in January and again at Pennsylvania's Summer Games in June.
The four female bowlers under Webb's charge "got along well" at training camp in Nashville and did everything together. Webb feels that friendship and unity they developed at training camp will help them all get along during the two weeks in China.
She added that she wants the athletes in her charge to have every opportunity available to them.
"I am a firm believer in experiencing everything that is offered," said Webb. "My athletes in Missouri go to Healthy Athletes, the dances and everything at our events. At training camp, we did everything offered like the dance, softball game and shopping in addition to training so that they get used to being busy all the time and learn to work together as a team."
It is Webb's experience paired with Izzy's own determination that made this relationship a success. "I just offered Izzy a lot of encouragement and support. She has a true need to please and she has done well," Webb said. "I don't give up on people."
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