Athletes from Team Chandler didn’t let a little rain stop their parade at the annual Special Olympics of Oklahoma (SOOK) Summer Games in Stillwater on May 16.
In fact, from the cheers and laughter filling the Colvin Annex on the Oklahoma State University campus that Thursday morning, you wouldn’t have guessed that most of the events had been canceled for the day.
“It has been crazy, but the one thing about Special Olympics and really everybody here, we’re all a family. We all adapt, and we all roll with it. Regardless of what it is, rain or shine, we will find something to do with the kids,” said head coach Kayla Ainsworth.
And there was something to do, indeed. At the Athletes of the Future event - open to kids under the age of eight - various stations were set up around the building, with kids racing to pop bubbles in one area and running down a mini obstacle course in another. Yet another station had them matching colored scarves with dots on the floor while other kids tried to make as many baskets as they could in a basketball section.
The stations are based on actual events athletes compete in during the Summer Games, Ainsworth said. “As a coach, you can watch them playing and see what they gravitate to or what they’re good at. Then it gives you a better idea of what to do when they turn eight, and they can enter into actual events,” she said.
Because many of the competitions were canceled due to the weather, the organization opened up the event and allowed older athletes to participate as well.
Team Chandler was originally going to bring a team of 25 - 10 athletes, 10 unified partners, and five Athletes of the Future. They were to compete in bocce ball in honor of Tristan Sawatski, a former teammate with hypoplastic left heart syndrome who passed away earlier this year at the age of 14. Bocce was his sport.
Ainsworth said she gave her older athletes a choice: They could still go and cheer on the little athletes at their event in the morning or stay in Chandler. Ten athletes and unified partners ended up coming along.
Among them was senior Jaden Sumpter, who said she hopes to keep competing with Team Chandler after she graduates. Waving a wand made of balloons, she said her favorite fans are her parents, who always come to support her.
Team Chandler has been attending the Special Olympics for over 20 years and has athletes ranging from elementary school to adults. The Games are open to anyone aged eight or older with an intellectual disability. Ainsworth said her athletes’ whole year leads up to the competition. They start with the little athletes at age five or six and then at eight, switch them to the bigger athletic department so they can compete in all the different sports.
“Once they graduate, we give them the option. You can come back and compete with us or you can choose to be your own team after that point. Whatever you want to do,” she said. “But we’ve had quite a few athletes that have stuck with us for a really long time… I think my oldest athlete is 29 years old.”
They have a few practices after school so that the athletes and unified partners can get to know each other and work together, Ainsworth said. They also practice a bit during class when they can. And just like other sports, her athletes can get pretty competitive. “Jaden Sumpter, she gets pretty stinking competitive.”
She added that the Special Olympics are important to her students.
“It’s just their day. There’s no parameters for them to fit into. There’s no classroom. There’s no four walls boxing them in. They just get to be themselves. Unapologetically themselves,” she said.
This year was the 39th Summer Games hosted at Oklahoma State University and the City of Stillwater, according to SOOK. It was also the 55th anniversary of Special Olympics Oklahoma. It is the largest Special Olympics event in North America and the largest amateur athletic event in Oklahoma.