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Show Special Olympics : "It's ludDw yoo play the game!" "It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's how you play the game!" This age old adage takes on real meaning when you attend the Special Olympics for the handicapped han-dicapped and see enthusiasm is as great if you win the event, or your friend does - it doesn't matter if you won, lost - or was somewhere in the middle. Approximately 300 of these athletes gathered at the American Fork High School track and football field on Friday of last week to finalize their timing before going on to the State Spring Games of the Special Olympics at BYU in May. The area meet included handicapped han-dicapped and mentally retarded youngsters from Nephi, North Summit and all of Alpine School District (with the exception of the . Utah State Training School who have their own area meet), according ac-cording to Bo Colozzi, area coordinator. coor-dinator. Also involved were residents of several care centers in the area. Participation was in track, broad jump, frisbee throw, soccer, Softball throw, relay races and other track and field events. If you want to see perserverence in action, you need to see these kids. Even if they fall down in the middle of the race - they get up and go on. They may be last - but they did their best and that's what counts in their estimation. Not many spectators or huggers were out for the meet (You know what a hugger is - it's a person who is at the end of the race, or the throw or the broad jump or whatever and gives the participant a big hug just to say "you did your best and I'm proud"), but the spirits of the participants and their coaches were high. And everyone came away a winner. The meet began with the traditional parade of athletes, the introduction of their queens and the lighting of the Olympic torch. Jim Murphy, director of the Utah Special Olympics program, has said although many of the athletes train year-round to compete in the sporting events, the competition itself is not the sole focus of the program. Just as important as the development of physical skills is the opportunity Special Olympics gives all mentally retarded children and adults to express courage, experience ex-perience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship friend-ship with their families, other Special Olympians and the com-munty. com-munty. Many of the participants in the spring events also took part in the winter games held in March in Park City and Indoor Games in December at the University of Utah. There are nine areas within the state who sponsor area-level training and competition. |