Issue link: http://www.wacmagazine.com/i/920099
8 WAC Magazine | wac.net Special Olympics athletes from around the country will contest fourteen sports, including team handball, in Seattle this July. u Four thousand athletes and coaches. Fourteen sports. Six days. One city. e 2018 Special Olympics USA Games are coming to Seattle starting July 1. Rarely does such a large sporting event offer such a great opportunity for the sur- rounding community to get involved. It's hard to imagine the USA Games coming to Seattle and the WAC—a bea- con of athletic excellence since opening its doors in 1930—not being a key player. "We were thrilled to help bring the USA Games to Seattle, and we're even more excited to be a part of them actually taking place," WAC Senior Vice President Athletics, Special Projects & Community Partners Wayne Milner Special Olympics USA Games Grand Staircase Gallery Remembering a Past President The Main Event says. e WAC is a sponsor of the USA Games, and Wayne also sits on the board of Special Olympics Washington. True to form, the WAC encourages members to get involved. e size and length of the competition require 10,000 volunteers of every skill level and expe- rience. "e USA Games will showcase the abilities of athletes with intellectual disabilities, promote the ideals of accep- tance and inclusion, and celebrate the life-changing power of sports," says 2018 Special Olympics USA Games CEO Beth Knox. e 2018 Games are the fourth installment of the Special Olympics na- tional sports competition, which occurs every four years. Athletes from across the country will compete at venues around the city, with much of the action centered at the University of Washington and Seattle University, just a mile from the WAC. Athletes will begin arriving in the final days of June, and the opening ceremony will take place Sunday, July 1, at Husky Stadium. "We want everyone who comes to Seattle to leave here with the over- whelming feeling that these were the best USA Games ever held," Knox says. Get in the spirit of the games and volunteer. First Take C O U R T E S Y S P E C I A L O LY M P I C S An awe-inspiring week Volunteer to help at 2018 Special Olympics USA Games SpecialOlympicsUSAGames.org/volunteer