CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — More than 50 students from both U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, and two Pyeongtaek schools joined, May 3, to participate in the first joint Special Olympics event.
“We are having our 4th annual Humphreys' Unified Special Olympics Track and Field event,” said Lori Pyers-Goodwin, Learning Impaired Moderate to Severe Disabilities teacher and Humphreys Unified Special Olympics coordinator. “This event is for our students with intellectual disabilities as well as other students that, due to their disability, don’t necessarily get the opportunity to participate in regular sports and activities.”
The event comes a year after the last Special Olympics where a memorandum of understanding was signed, paving the way for future joint events between the Korean and Humphreys communities. This year Ebada and Dong-Bang, two schools from the city of Pyeongtaek, sent a combined 23 student athletes to participate in the event. They joined the 20 student athletes from the four Camp Humphreys’ schools (high school, middle and two elementary schools) in the track and field events. In addition, nine student athletes, aged 7 and younger, participated in adapted physical contests to allow them to participate in the festivities.
The event began at 9:30 a.m. with a ceremonial torch processional which involved an imitation torch being carried around the event track by students representing each of the schools. The U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys commander, Col. Seth Graves, gave opening remarks welcoming the students and thanking the volunteers for their work in making the event a reality.
“All of you are inspiring,” said Graves as he addressed the student athletes. “Not only are you able to show off your physical strength today, but your ability to make friends from around the world is incredible. All the adults here have something to learn from you. Today, you are the teachers.”
Awards were presented following each contest, with Humphreys students awarding the Koreans and then the Korean students awarding the American students. Blake Martinez, fifth grader at Humphreys Middle School, participated in the softball throw, the long jump and the 50-meter dash. Blake said he enjoyed having the two Korean school participate because he didn’t usually get to spend time with Korean children.
“This is a lot of fun,” said Blake.
In addition to the athletic events, the Korea Sports Symphony from Seoul gave a performance. More than half of the musicians in the symphony have disabilities.
“We thought that was such a wonderful match for this activity,” said Pyers-Goodwin. “I hope the children are inspired about more things they can accomplish, and they see how disabilities aren’t as limiting as others might feel.”
Eugene Yoo attended in support of his son Landen, who is a sixth grader at Humphreys Middle School. Landen competed in the softball throw and a running event and Yoo said he was grateful for the opportunity for his son to be able to participate.
“We’re able to be part of a bigger community, which is something we haven’t been able to do before,” said Yoo. “They put on such a great event. We couldn’t ask for more."
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