FEATURESTORY
Special Olympics On Guam by: David F. Macaluso
Its the smiles on the athletes faces during their competition, the sense of pride after each event or self admiration when a medal is placed around their neck. These special athletes are faced with difficult challenges each and every day, from the time they wake up to the moment they go to bed. Four times a year, the spotlight is on them and they are the superstars. The Special Olympics Guam ensures that light will always be on them making them forever special. For the past 35 years the Special Olympics has been thriving on Guam, bringing competitive sports activities to island athletes. But prior to the games arriving on Guam, the organization got its start nine years earlier, led by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, when the first International Special Olympics Summer Games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1968. According to Frank Florig, Special Olympics Guam Executive Director, "For Guam to showcase this event just 9 years after the Chicago debut, in hindsight, is a phenomenal task, considering the way news traveled back then and at that time there was no information superhighway." Track and field was the first event to come to the island and it still remains
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today’s most popular event with the Special Olympics. In March 2011, the sport yielded over 400 athletes and more participants are expected to join next year in 2012. Florig said, “ I’ve been with this organization for eight years and the number of athletes gradually increased during that time. When I first got on board, there was a little over 150 competitors for track and field. We think we can get more participants, but we need to do better with our outreach programs. I also believe we need to try to get the word out faster.” The Special Olympics just recently launched its website (www.specialolympicsguam.org/) and its now on several social networks, such as Twitter and Facebook, in hopes of reaching out to more athletes and spreading news about future events held throughout the island, to gain more volunteers and to help register competitors for the games. In addition to the track and field events held in March, the Special Olympics Guam also has games in every quarter. There’s swimming in June, Bowling in October and Golf in December. The numbers of competitors for those events are also up. In 2010 there were only had 35 swimmers, but this year it
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