AMES, Iowa - Sharon Beckum and Preston Ratliff are taking 11 Delta youngsters to the first Special Olympics USA National Games, which is scheduled to open tonight at Iowa State University's Hilton Coliseum.
"I've been doing this for about eight years now. This is the first ever national games. We're all kind of excited," said Beckum, a special education teacher with the Leflore County School District since 1979.
Beckum, a Special Olympics girls volleyball coach, was travelling in a two-bus caravan from Chicago to Ames, part of a Mississippi contingent, which includes 110 athletes and several coaches.
Beckum is responsible for six girls from Mississippi Special Olympics' "Area 15," which includes Leflore and Holmes counties.
"I've got three girls from Greenwood and Leflore County schools, and I've got another three from Tchula and Lexington," she said.
Also competing are five boys from Area 15. Two will be participating in track and field events, and the other three will be participating in basketball, Beckum said.
Special Olympics, an international organization, focuses on "promoting understanding, acceptance and inclusion between people with and without intellectual disabilities."
Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and athletic competition and other related programming for nearly 2 million children and adults with disabilities in 150 countries.
The national games are scheduled to run until Friday. During that time, more than 7,000 athletes and coaches are expected to participate.
Other competitive events at the national games include swimming, bocce, bowling, golf, gymnastics, powerlifting, soccer and softball.
Beckum's girls volleyball team was selected to make the trip to Ames in 2005, after they went to the Mississippi Special Olympics state games held at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi.
Afterward, a training camp was held and from that group 12 girls were selected to go to the national games this year, she said.
The group left on Friday and went to Madison, where they met with the state's Special Olympics delegation. Later, they boarded Amtrak's City of New Orleans in Jackson for the trip to Chicago. From Chicago the group travelled to Ames via bus.
The kids are ready, she said. "They're having a great time. Special Olympics has been good to them."
Today, prior to the opening ceremonies, the athletes will practice while coaches meet to discussing scheduling.
Team play will begin on Monday.
Medal play for the girls teams will run from Wednesday through Friday, Beckum said.
Ratliff, assistant director of the Leflore County School District's special education department, said the boys basketball team will be scheduled today.
Team play will start Monday. Medal play will take place later in the week, he said.
Ratliff said the athletes are ready for the games and he thanked the volunteers whose donations provided the team uniforms as well as covering the team's round trip transportation expenses.
"All of it is volunteer. Everything is donated," he said.
Becky Johnson, school program coordinator for Mississippi Special Olympics, said the trip is as important for her organization as it is for the youngsters.
"We've always had local, state and regional games. Then we had world games. This is our first national games in the U.S.," she said.
Johnson said the next Special Olympics World Summer Games will be held in October 2007 in Shanghai, China.
She said Helen Parish, Mississippi Special Olympics' executive director, is responsible for coordinating the movement of athletes and coaches to the games.
Beckum said her team is ready for the games to begin.
"We've had enough training. We've been doing this for a long time."
For more information on the 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games, visit www.2006nationalgames.org. To make a donation to the state's Special Olympics committee, write to Mississippi Special Olympics, 15 Olympic Way, Madison, MS 39110.
