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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\u201cSpecial Olympics was dear to my heart from when I was in college,\u201d she explained. \u201cI volunteered when they would do events like track and field on campus. I enjoyed the athletes and how excited they would get along with their love for the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a mother of a child with disabilities, Burkett knew the benefits of being involved with Special Olympics. At age 8, she signed Emily up, and both have been with the organization for the last 16 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Discovering an athlete\u2019s ability <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a coach, Burkett teaches sports, including basketball and bocce ball, bowling, ice skating, and corn hole, a new sport to the Special Olympics. Bocce ball is a popular outdoor game that involves rolling big balls toward a smaller target called a pallino. The goal is to land the balls as close as possible to the pallino. Bocce ball can be played in a one-on-one format or can pit teams of up to four players against each other. The game can be played on almost any flat surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBocce ball is a summer games sport. We participated in the summer games that took place in May,\u201d Burkett explained. \u201cThe athletes like training with a partner, and they also like the game. There is time when the athletes can socialize and enjoy each other. Bocce also allows athletes to gain some leadership skills. They can help each other in this sport. It\u2019s great for our nonverbal athletes or an athlete who just needs extra help. I\u2019ll partner an athlete who can communicate well with an athlete who has more needs. It empowers both athletes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Burkett added that for each athlete, it\u2019s about finding out what their abilities are and building on those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA great example of our athletes making the most of their abilities is one of our nonverbal athletes that had started basketball,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cUpon joining, he came in with his earphones on and was excited, but he couldn\u2019t dribble and didn\u2019t understand the game completely. I pulled him aside while another coach took the rest of the team. I worked with him on just dribbling, and he learned to dribble. We set him in front of the goal, and when another player came down, they would throw the ball to him, and he would dribble once and then shoot. It\u2019s our process to work with each athlete\u2019s abilities and put them in a position where they can be most successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gold medal of blessings<\/strong> \u201cThere are so many blessings in being able to work with these athletes,\u201d she enthused. \u201cThey look forward to the competition, and being able to see them compete and get a medal \u2014 whether it be gold, silver, or bronze \u2014 to see them have that feeling of accomplishment is heartwarming. Also, the socialization they gain is beneficial. For example, my daughter will talk about a competition weeks before because she\u2019s looking forward to being with her friends and the competition.\u201d GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE FIRST Special Olympics took place in Chicago\u2019s Soldier Field in July 1968 and hosted 1,000 athletes from across the U.S. and Canada. In its second year, the event grew internationally and welcomed France into the fun. By the fourth year, 10 additional countries sent athletes to compete. The next 55 years would see the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":21834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/lebanon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2024\/08\/1-5-1024x683.png\")
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Burkett said that working with each athlete provides endless blessings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n