My Special Olympics Adventure
By Ciaran Bailey
The opening ceremony for the ‘Special Olympic World Games’ was on a Friday at five O’clock. All the teams came out into a big sports ground called the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and took their seats.
Then the first lady (Michelle Obama) gave a speech, I really enjoyed that. Then the torch came out and was passed from one person to the next. The final person with the torch lit the big flame. Music was played and everyone was dancing and having fun. It finished with loads of fireworks.
On Saturday we had a day off and went to Hollywood. I seen all the stars on the pavement and I stood on Will Smith’s star.
The food was great and the weather was very good.
That night we went to a party and Ian Dempsey and Denis O’Brien were there. This party was for all the officials to meet up and get to know one another. There was loads of music and fun.
On Sunday we got down to business and started the basketball matches.
Different countries from around the world played each other. The matches were very interesting and I had fun officiating them.
To officiate a match you have to mark down how many fouls a player got, let the player and coaches know, plus you have to put the cones down on the table for each period of the match.
I did this job for five days and worked on seven matches in total.
I had a day off in the Tuesday and hung out in the athletes village, where there was loads to do.
That night we went out to a pub for drinks and sandwiches.
I was on TV when one of the players from Ireland won a gold medal. That was a load of fun.
I missed the closing ceremony because I had to fly back home.
I am so happy to have had this experience.
The Special Olympics is a great thing to be involved with.
