Opening ceremonies, complete with the lighting of the Olympic flame, along with a victory celebration during which athletes received medallions and ribbons, were part of the Special Olympics of South Carolina’s fall games in Anderson Oct. 23-24. Four Times and Democrat Region athletes competed in golf during the two-day event.

“You’ve got to get fired up!” said Special Olympics athlete Tyler Wiggins, 20, of Eutawville. “And you get sort of overwhelmed, too.”

For Wiggins, the excitement of playing golf in the 2009 fall games had been building for weeks.

He and his father, Tommy Wiggins, practiced golf swings and distance hits regularly at Santee’s Lake Marion Golf Course in the weeks prior to the statewide fall games.

The two younger local Special Olympics athletes who participated in the fall games were Shonters Rivers and Drelyn Sumpter, both of Elloree.

Coaches Dana Perry, Jack Slater and Shane Cleveland worked with each Special Olympics athlete and their golf partners in preparation for the competition.

Special Olympics athlete Frank Canal, 42, of Summerton, has been working to organize a local group of individuals to participate in future Special Olympics events. Canal said the fall games were “good – the competition was good; there were nine holes on the golf course, and everybody played nine holes.”

Canal said he’s competed in Special Olympics events for a couple of years in South Carolina but he spent many years as an athlete in New York.

“I started when I was a young boy,” Canal said.

Canal is hoping to encourage more local involvement in Special Olympics activities, whether a person participates as an athlete or as a volunteer. About two years ago, Canal contacted the Lake Marion Kiwanis Club in Santee. Since then, the local Kiwanis Club chapter has been dedicated to supporting Special Olympics athletes and their involvement in statewide events.

Slater, who is president of the Lake Marion Kiwanis Club, said the Lake Marion Golf Course is a generous supporter of Special Olympics athletes. Lake Marion Golf Course managers permit Special Olympics athletes to practice on the course and also supplied embroidered hats and shirts for athletes to wear during the fall games.

Slater said he hopes the numbers of local special needs participants will double or triple when next year’s Special Olympics games begin.

The elder Wiggins appreciates the dedication of the local Kiwanis Club to Special Olympics.

“Get involved,” Wiggins said. “They’re looking for people to help and sponsor.”

For more information about Special Olympics or the Lake Marion Kiwanis Club, call Jack Slater, 803-854-3978, or Frank Canal, 803-347-5975.

The Lake Marion Kiwanis Club meets at 7 a.m. every Wednesday at Shoney’s in Santee.

T&D Correspondent Martha Rose Brown can be reached by e-mail at marfawose@aol.com.

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