Event aids Special Olympics

Many people sacrificed sleep Friday night at the Health Physical Education and Recreation Building for this year's Spirit of Sport event, which benefits the Indiana Special Olympics. Up all night partaking in more than fifty recreational sports, students, faculty, volunteers and Olympians sported shirts bearing the logo, "I made it!"\nThe program began at 5 p.m. Friday and ran until 5 a.m. the next morning. The event began with the African American Dance Company and the lighting of the symbolic Olympic torch. \nSpecial Olympian Shelly Hackett lit the torch as she recited the official oath of the games and Olympians repeated: "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."\nSpirit of Sport has been an annual event since 1976, excluding last year because of lack of funding. The program has raised more than $262,000 for Special Olympics and has had more than 4,000 participants. This year Spirit of Sport presented a $15,000 check to the Indiana Special Olympics.\nActivities ranged from human bowling and rock climbing to water polo and flag football. \nDean of Students Richard McKaig, who attended the event, said Spirit of Sport is not only for a great cause, but a way for students to come together.\n"This event brings together the whole community and really showcases IU activities and its facilities," McKaig said. "This is college student activity at its best."\nSpecial Olympians in Indiana are divided into groups based on age and ability, but anyone with a disability -- mental, physical or emotional -- has the chance to play. The Indiana division offers 16 official sports that are offered seasonally. Olympians present at Spirit of Sport participated in scheduled, competitive games including basketball, bocce ball and weightlifting.\nDennis C. Schmidt, executive director of the Indiana Special Olympics, said the program's objective is to provide the opportunity to participate in sports.\n"We are more of a participatory program than we are a program that emphasizes superior athletes," Schmidt said. "These people want an opportunity to play just like their brothers, their sisters, their neighbors and everybody else in the community."\nIt is also an event for the spectators. Family, community members, friends and supporters of the Olympians came to watch as the participants rose to the challenge of sports. Schmidt said it can be as touching for the parents as it is for the child.\n"It is really moving when you see the parents," Schmidt said. "For the first time, their son or daughter has the chance to be out there and shine."\nFor others, like Kathy Bayless, recreational sports director and assistant dean of the school of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, the event was partly about sport and the other part about giving.\n"The spirit of sport is also the spirit of giving," Bayless said. "It is about giving something in your life to make a difference in the life of someone else. Never underestimate the power of giving.\n"It shines like a beacon through our humanity. It cuts through the oceans that divide us and brightens the lives of all it touches."\nBloomington Mayor John Fernandez said it is an annual event that, among other things, should help people build skills, experience joy, make friends, feel achievement and demonstrate courage. Bayless agreed and reminded participants to savor these moments.\n"One of life's great laws (is)," Bayless said, "'You can't hold a torch to brighten other's paths without brightening your own."