Jul 3
The cheer squad was in place, pom poms at the ready. Me, mum, mum-in-law, sister, husband. The DJ pumped out the tunes. We will, we will, rock you. It was only 8.30am on a Sunday but yes, it was time for the YMCA. In come the athletes, and the crowd explodes. Game on!
He called later with a fool-proof plan. Thesues’s second cousin had a water taxi which would leave the island at 7am. At 8am, Thesues’s other second cousin would meet him at the port and drive him to Sparta for bowling gold at 9am. It would cost us a small fortune, but it was worth it. Voila, sorted!
The atmostphere out at the Sparta Bowling Centre was electric, buzzing and filled with friendship. A DJ pumped out tunes which whipped the spectactors into a pre-game frenzy. To get a seat was a priviledge, it was basically standing room only. The athletes arrived and were welcomed by thundering cheers. It was the doubles event and Matt had teamed up with Lynn from Tasmania.
To find out when Matt would actually be bowling (he would bowl on 3 days out of the 10 that we were there) top level security code word: VERY SPECIAL was needed. No one seemed to know and the only way one could find out was to recieve a late night secret text the night before from his head coach, Queenslander Shirley.
I attended the largest sporting even in the world for 2011. And I loved it. Who would have thought.
In June, 7,500 athletes with an intellectual disability and 25,000 volunteers came together to kick ass, achieve their personal best and give out a hell of a lot of high fives.
loulouloves 