When you help other people, you get a special feeling inside that you cannot explain…
On Saturday, May 14th, my SC United teammates and I volunteered at the Southern California Special Olympics. We knew beforehand little bits and pieces about the Special Olympics, about the athletes and the reason for the Special Olympics, but all in all, we were not expecting the wonderful time we would have at this event.
While walking in to get our nametags and lunch tickets, we saw a few children and adults with disabilities, some you could tell from the outside, some from their behavior. We were told that after we ate lunch, we would start cheering and saying ‘congrats’ to the athletes doing events on the track and moving on to other responsibilities as the day went on. We had some time to ourselves as a team before entering the track. I was sure some of us were asking questions like, “How old are the people we are working with?” “Will they like us?” “Will they accept our help?” and I am sure many others similar questions.
The whole day was full of learning experiences. Most of the people I helped were kind hearted and tried their best at the event they were doing, and only a few of the athletes were disappointed with the score or place they got. This left me thinking that we should always keep our heads up and stay positive, even with tough opponents. At the end of the day Coach Kerri sat down with us wanting to know about the time we had today. One of the questions she asked was, “What was your favorite part?” When she called on me, my answer was, “Seeing the athletes smile, whether or not they got first place, or eighth place, because they knew that today was their day to be in the spotlight.” I hope whoever reads this feels the same way too. In life we take too many things for granted, and that we should appreciate what we have, and give back to others.