Here! - Special Olympics Oregon

Summer 2012
Jo. Co. SO
The Newsletter for Special Olympics Oregon Josephine County
Fall
Schedule:
Aquatics:
Tues. & Thurs.
6:45—8:30 pm
Club Northwest
Begins: 9/4/12
Bowling:
Saturday
1:00—3:00 pm
Caveman Bowl
Begins: 9/8/12
Soccer:
Tues. & Thurs.
6:00—7:30 pm
Grants Pass
High School
Begins: 9/4/12
Barry Boston
Gold
Long Jump (M)
Leaping Into the Summer Games!
Regional Competitions
Athletics
Jo Co (Josephine County) opened the
first of the summer season Special Olympics
Oregon meets by hosting the Athletics Regional
Competition right here in Grants Pass
June 9, 2012.
A long season of training paid off as Jo Co
garnered 14 Gold, 8 Silver, 11 Bronze and 19
4th-6th place ribbons during regional games.
*There were no disqualifications*
Finishing with Gold medals were:
Dan Aho (1), Desirae Armstrong (2), Barry
Boston (2), Ashley Carpenter (1), Kelly
Hagopian (1), Fabio Guerrero (2), Lindsay King
(1), Harold Nelson (1), Jacob McLean (1), Donovan
Gulovsen (1) and Emillie Weldon (1).
Desirae Armstrong
Gold
Long Jump (F)
Soccer times
are subject to
change due
to daylight
restrictions
Many, many
thanks to all of
our corporate
volunteers for
making the
Regional Meet
a success.
Softball and Bocce
The following weekend Softball and Bocce Teams headed up to Eugene
for the Regionals in their sports. Under the blazing sun and sizzling temperatures,
the “Josephine County Rascals” swung into summer with a bang; winning
all three regional games, earning them the Gold medal.
The ‘Bocce Bunch’, composed of 14 team pairs, earned 2 Gold, 4 Silver,
and 6 Bronze medals and 2 Fourth place ribbons. For one of our Gold medal
teams (Shauna Avery and Rebecca Cader) this was the first season either
athlete had ever played Bocce. The team of Michelle Amaral and Deirdre Devlin
were awarded the Sportsmanship Medal because...well, IMHO, because they are
just so very charming.

P A G E 2
State Competitions in Newberg.
Team Mauldin/Flaim
(Mauldin bowling)
clinch the Gold .
BOCCE Battling both
the heat and stiff competition,
Team Mauldin/
Flaim won the Gold
Medal for their division
after a hard fought medal
round that ended with
them one point ahead.
Team Amaral/Devlin also
won the Gold in a match
that went down to the
last bowl that was brilliantly
played by Deirdre
Devlin, who slipped her
ball between the opponents
ball and the Pallina
(target) for the winning
point.
The Bocce Bunch also
earned one Silver, six
Bronze Medals and three
Sportsmanship Medals.
SOFTBALL The
Rascals had equally challenging
games. In the
gold medal round they
were up against a team
that had almost shut
them out the year before.
This year they
were able to score 7
runs against the Wash.
Wildcat Bat burners but
were not quite able to
pull ahead, earning them
the Silver for their efforts.
This years success
can be attributed their
mutual support and
cohesive teamwork.
Bocce teams Avery/Cader; Eldred/Jackson and Hilton/Williams were
awarded Sportsmanship awards.
Josephine County
Rascals
2012
Volunteer Heroes – The Troutt Family
A family full of
giving !
In every volunteer organization
there is that
small cadre of people
who are the real angels
of an organization, the
ones who step up and
do whatever needs
doing.
The entire
Troutt family is a prime
example of people who go
way above and beyond.
Whether its hauling heavy
practice equipment and
being a Unified Partner
(Coty, upper left) to his
sister Cheyenee (lower
left), driving truckloads of
stuff to and from competitions
and practices, partnering
and caring for a
wonderful athlete and
treating him as one of
their own, (Floyd, in hat,
next to Terry Nelson) ...
or helping the organizationally
challenged Bocce Coach
(moi) keep track of all her
peeps and papers (Stacie,
front row in sunglasses),
they are there. I don’t
know what we would do
without them. They are
our heroes.
T H E N E W S L E T T E R F O R S P E C I A L O L Y M P I C S O R E G O N J O S E P H I N E C O U N T Y

Dedication, Hard Work, Discipline
First year softball players Kyle
VanLeeuwen and Alma Torres,
both outfielders, showed enormous
growth over the season. Alma has
great focus and good reflexes in her
position and Kyle got on base during
the Gold Medal match and made one
of the runs. Both showed up on
time and worked hard during practices.
They took that dedication
with them to the games. Bryce
Meyers has been a part of the
Rascals for the past couple of years
but this was his first year as catcher.
He tagged an opponent out at home
during the Gold Medal match.
States, cont.
ATHLETICS All season long the
Grants Pass Jaguars relay team
(McLean, Elzea, Burbridge, Gasperson)
have been working on getting a
running start prior to catching the
baton. Their handoffs were good
enough during this race to help earn
them the Silver Medal. Even though
the “Grants Pass Panthers” (Latham,
Macy Goodwin-Hagopian , Boston)
suffered a “painful third place finish”
in the Grants Pass Regional Games’
4x100 relay race; despite Barry Boston’s
horrific tumble just before
The Shot Put competition
consists of throwing an 8 lb. ball
(men) as far as one can. Dan
Aho started out using the basic
static throw. He then decided
that would learn the more
complicated ‘shuffle step’ throw
(shuffle step backwards, turn
and launch). This required far
more concentration and coordination
but gave more power
to the throw. He worked on
this new throw in practice and
at home for hours and hours.
Dan’s hard work paid off as he
earned the Gold Medal. His
work ethic is to be admired.
crossing the finish line, the team
still managed to shaved 8 seconds
off of their average time. To make
matters seemingly worse; just
before state games the teams’
“third-leg” runner suffered a knee
injury and was side-lined for the
duration leaving an alternate to fill
the gap. Working together as a
team these four athletes could
only post a fifth place finish but,
incredibly still managed a time 6
seconds quicker than their season
average.
Dan Aho
P A G E 3
Athletics
Bocce
Softball
Medal Count:
All Sports
Regional / State
17 Gold 8
12 Silver 10
17 Bronze 16
14 Fourth 6
4 Fifth 4
3 Sixth 4
0 Seventh 2
Total
80 Medals
37 Ribbons
Personal Bests: (Regional/State Games)
Quite amazing was the number of athletes that recorded a
“personal best” during competition this summer. 22 of the
25 athletics athletes managed to record a personal best time
and/or distance in their event (s).
Most notable were the three female athletes in the 400m
walk race; Desirae Armstrong, Lacey Gautschi and Lindsay
King all finished the 400m with a better time than the race
before, knocking off as much as 28 seconds from a season
average!
Dancing to ‘The Flame’
Other ‘States’ Activities
Newberg not only hosted the
Olympics events but also provided a
number of other activities including a
dance after opening ceremonies,
“T.R.A.I.N.” with Health and Fitness
activities and ‘Olympic Town’ with all
sorts of fun things to do.
Free vision screening.
Free Vision Screening
Trotting Trotting around around the the Town Town

Regional Competitions:
Aquatics
Nov. 4, 2012
Osborn Aquatics Center
Corvallis, Oregon
Pat Tyler with this year’s ‘top
fundraiser’ Sandeep Tandon.
Fund raising is a necessary part of any non profit organization. Our efforts
are led by the charming and capable Pat Tyler. Each year the athletes have a drive
to raise money for Special Olympics. The athletes have always been enthusiastic
fundraisers, but this year and last Pat has arranged for incentives to be given to
our fund raisers a thank you for their efforts.
Bowling
Nov. 17, 2012
Lava Lanes
Medford, Oregon
Soccer
November TBA
Corvallis High School
Corvallis, Oregon
Photographs by: Jim Ingraham Photography; Swarun Nagi; Floyd Troutt, Kirby Erickson, Nicole Richards and Rose Tandon
Writers: Rose Tandon and John Ferrin Editor: Rose Tandon
Do you ever feel you’re kind of drifting in
your life Are you getting bored with the same old,
same old Does the world just seem a little grey and
filled with trials and tribulations Do you need a lift A
laugh Do you want to spend your time working at
something that makes a real difference
Do we have a place for you! Come join us. It’s
as easy as a phone call, letter or email. Choose the
level of your commitment. Ease in by spending a few
hours at a single meet or leap in for a ‘tad’ more than
that. Not into attending practices or meets but want
to help We have fund raising, newsletter or a dozen
other ways to help keep us organized (no mean feat for
this editor). Come join us. You’ll be glad you did and
have the time of your life as well. Come volunteer
with us….we’re fun!
(541) 479-9600
PO Box 1287
Cathy Eldred— Moral Booster Extraordinaire!
Grants Pass , Oregon 97528
Visit our website.
www.soor.org/Sub-Page.aspxName=Josephine-County &PID=104