A year's worth of training was put to the test in the Bowdoin pool on Thursday, as athletes eight and older swam at the Special Olympics Swimming State Qualifying Round, thanks to the work of Special Olympics staff and the Bowdoin Special Olympics Club.
Last week's qualifying round was the culmination of months' worth of energy and planning by the leaders of the student organization, the Bowdoin Special Olympics Club.
According to club organizer Rose Teng '07, the biggest part of planning the annual event is recruiting and organizing enough Bowdoin volunteers to wake up early and make the trek to Farley. This year's event included the help of 28 students, who worked to time swimmers, prepare place ribbons, and run messages between timers and organizers.
"The volunteers have always been reliable," Teng said. "If they weren't, it would be chaotic."
"Everybody who volunteers at the events are incredibly dedicated, and you can tell they are having fun from the smiles on their faces," she added.
Sophomore Shelley Barron, who has volunteered for the Special Olympics for two years, spent most of Thursday's meet announcing events over the loadspeaker.
"[This event] gives the children and young adults a chance to compete and demonstrate their athleticism, and gives them an environment where they can express themselves," Barron said.
"They don't find that in many outlets in their lives because of their mental or physical handicaps," she said.
The range of abilities among competitors at last week's event was vast. Some of the athletes even swim for their high schools in addition to competing in the Special Olympics. Many athletes compete against their own times as their coaches and fans cheer them on.
"Swimming, and athletics in general, can be a really empowering activity and it's wonderful to see so many Special Olympics athletes competing, have a great time, meeting their goals, and setting new ones," Teng said.
According to event organizers Teng and Britney Ogden '08, the event was a success despite the lower-than-normal turnout, likely sparked by the sudden weather emergency.
"Some participants didn't show up?we don't know whether that was because of the weather or not," Ogden said. "We cut out the awards ceremony at the end so people could get home."
Although Ogden said the awards ceremony is a very important and rewarding piece of the event, she predicted that teams probably held their own ceremonies to celebrate their accomplishments.
The Bowdoin Special Olympics Club is unique among student-led organizations in that it meets just once a year.
"For such a short time commitment, it is so worth it," said Assistant Director of Residential Life Erica Ostermann '06, who helped organize the Special Olympics qualifying round when she was a student.
"There are a good number of athletes who definitely go on to compete in states from here, maybe...because everyone is so positive," Ostermann said.
Anne Riley contributed to this report.