State Games Recaps and Letters for 2012
State Winter Games
Portions of Hall County Coach Scott Crain’s letter about his athletes’ experiences during Winter Games weekend are as follows:
This past weekend 82 Special Olympic athletes and unified partners along with 25 committed teachers, coaches, and chaperones from Hall County took Marietta by storm. The Special Olympics Georgia Indoor Winter Games were held in Marietta, Friday, January 20th through Sunday, January 22nd . This year the Hall County delegation participated in seven different sports competitions. It was amazing to watch these incredible young men and women perform.
Our unified basketball team from Lanier Career Academy came in 4th place in division one, the masters traditional basketball team also placed 4th in their competition, and the 3X3 basketball team placed 4th as well. Our senior traditional basketball team comprised of athletes from JHS, WHHS, and NHHS went the entire weekend undefeated to capture the GOLD in division 11 state play. Spouts Springs Elementary and West Hall High athletes participated in the individual basketball skills competition where Spouts Springs won six silver medals and two bronze medals. West Hall High had an outstanding weekend in skills with two gold medals and 1 silver medal.
Our bowlers also had a great weekend at Winter Games. Lanier Career Academy brought 2 traditional teams and won a bronze and silver medal. Davis Middle had one athlete in assisted ramp bowling and he brought home the GOLD!! Davis Middle School and Flowery Branch High bowled in the unified team divisions where Davis Middle School won 2 silver and a bronze and Flowery Branch High earned 3 silver medals and one GOLD! All of the athletes and unified partners represented Special Olympics Hall County well.
For the first time in Special Olympics Hall County history we had an athlete compete in the Southeastern Regional Powerlifting Competition that is held simultaneously with the State Winter Games. He competed in squat and deadlift where he won bronze and in the bench press where he won the GOLD. He won the silver medal for the powerlifting triple combination in his weight class. There were six southeastern states represented in the competition.
State Summer Games
The 2012 State Summer Games was the largest in State Summer Games history a huge success May 18-20 at Emory University. This year we hosted 2,722 athletes, partners and coaches from 67 Special Olympics Georgia agencies across the state. The weekend was a huge success and the weather was perfect!
During Saturday’s Healthy Athletes Program, athletes were screened through Special Smiles, Opening Eyes and Fit Feet. For some athletes, this is their only opportunity to seek professional health care. Below is the breakdown of how many athletes went through Healthy Athletes:
Special Smiles – 303 Athletes
Opening Eyes – 160 Athletes
Fit Feet – 110 Athletes
State Masters Bowling
The great city of Warner Robins was our host for the tournament with over 300 volunteers supporting this event from throughout the community and surrounding areas August 24-26. And the event will be even bigger next year as Special Olympics Georgia is very excited to have the State Masters Bowling Tournament return to Warner Robins for the next three years. A big congratulations to all of the athletes, partners, coaches and volunteers…without you this event would not have been possible. Happy Bowling and see you next year in Warner Robins!
State Horse Show
This year the Horse Show held in Perry, August 24-26 at the National Fairground was showed major growth: 19 percent overall! We had 208 athletes across seven events. We are excited to announce that the State Horse Show will be moved to the Fall of 2013 and to a new location, Chicopee Woods in Gainesville Georgia! We are thrilled about the location and time of year change!
State Fall Games
Fifty-one delegations traveled from across the State of Georgia to Dalton Oct. 12-14 for an exciting weekend of competition and Olympic Town activities. The games grew by 2 percent in participation.
The Opening Ceremony kicked off at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, October 12th, with country music recording artist Paul Ruark performing a song entitled, “Special Olympics”, which was written by Special Olympics Georgia Athlete Jordan Freeman, who is affiliated with the local Special Olympics Dalton/Whitfield Agency. Next, the Parade of Athletes was led out into the arena by American Idol runner-up, Lauren Alena and a few of the Atlanta Falcons cheerleaders. After that, the Chattanooga Aerials group performed a acrobatic act to tie in with our “Cirque de SOGA” theme.
The competitions kicked back up on Saturday, October 13th, at 8 a.m. The Bocce and Softball Team continued out at Heritage Point Park, along with the start of Softball Skills and Long Distance Running and Walking. The Cycling Venue was held Saturday in downtown Dalton, with a great course set up that was an actual professional circuit course used in the past. The Golf Skills and Golf Individual and Team hole competitions were held at the Knob North Golf Club on Saturday as well.