UCLA Special Olympics Conquers
Long Beach State Summer Games Competition
June 16-18, 2000
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Introduction
Basketball
Tennis
Track
While the Fun Police made their way home for summer or dealt with pomp and circumstance, the UCLA Special Olympics squad had unfinished business at the Special Olympics Summer Games held at Long Beach State. The UCLA Special O “mini-delegation” brought 13 athletes and 4 coaches to compete, the most from UCLA in years, if not ever. The Games got off to an auspicious beginning, as two athletes bailed due to injuries and Mike Lewis missed the van and had to take the Blue Line to Long Beach. However, the team rebounded, overcoming the adversity and stepped up to the challenge. Robin Lee coached the tennis delegation, Mildred De La Cruz; Lisa Levin, the track and field competitors: Sheldon Sanchez, Miracle Lindsay, Ronald Caldwell and Charlie Meza; and Brian McCormick and Lance Wargo led the basketball squad.
In the Pyramid (the basketball venue), the Gold Division’s first game featured UCLA Special Olympics squaring off against Westside. Using the newly installed swarming, trapping pressure defense, led by Alan Barnes, UCLA managed to create more lay-ups for themselves than they did for the other team. They jumped to a resounding first-half lead, punctuated byMiguel Tomas’ buzzer beating three-pointer from 24 feet off an in-bounds pass from Mark Reid (the Play of the Year in UCLA Special Olympics basketball, as voted on by Brian McCormick).
In the second half, the romp continued, as Branden Roberson, plagued by first half foul trouble, swarmed the court, stealing the ball and starting the fast break. The only thing keeping this game from being even more lop-sided than the 41-14 final was the inability to make a lay-up. However, with Miguel hot from way downtown (3-4 in the first half, and 5-9 for the game), the game was never in doubt.
In the next game, five minutes later, UCLA started slowly against San Gabriel Valley. In the second quarter, UCLA picked up the energy, inspired by Mr. “Hell Yeah Spirit Award” winner, Julius “Juice” Daniels, and the tenacious defense of Mike Lewis. With Mark “Abe Lincoln” Reid and Ray Thomas dominating inside, UCLA pulled ahead to what seemed like an insurmountable nine point second half lead. But, with “tough guy” Alan riding the pine, SGV slipped back into the game and UCLA fell behind late in the game. A spirited comeback highlighted by Mike Lewis exhibiting his handles in the corner as the clock wound down fell a little short, as the exhausted Bruins fell 35-32.
After rejuvenating in the hot sun taking turns dancing with Robin, Rea and Romina, and watching Mark Reid bust a move break dancing, UCLA again took to the hardwood to face Westside in the second leg of the home and home series. Dawn “Super Sub” Trotter gave life to the sluggish Bruins, and UCLA once again took control with their swarming defense. Branden and Alan again started the fast break with numerous steals, and Ray and Mark played volleyball over the rim until one of them eventually scored. Miguel exhibited perfect defensive slides (not to mention his shooting touch)and Juice kept on shooting, never losing confidence as UCLA pulled away for a 38-20 victory, ending the day at 2-1 and in good position to take the Gold Division Gold Medal.
Early Sunday morning, after a raucous night at the dance and in the dorms, UCLA battled San Gabriel Valley for the Gold. UCLA posed for the actual television cameras at every opportunity, and even managed to look like a basketball team in between shots. Mark Reid ran the floor and dominated the paint, and Alan “oops, I did it again” Barnes repeatedly stole the ball for lay-ups, also inspiring Ray and Branden to join in the petty theft parade. With the win clearly in hand in the fourth quarter, Miracle “No conscious” Lindsay made a cameo appearance, hoisting the ball at the basket at every opportunity, as Juice kept his confidence and his spirit, if not his shooting touch. UCLA ran away with the 38-16 victory, tying SGV with a record of 3-1 in the bracket. UCLA was awarded the gold medal based on total points and the team celebrated by engaging in full contact wrestling and more dancing.
While UCLA wreaked havoc in the Pyramid, Mildred De La Cruz, UCLA Special Olympics first ever Summer Games tennis participant, did her best to represent UCLA’s tradition of excellence in tennis. The tennis venue began bright and early Saturday morning with some easy rallying back and forth. Though the sun had not peaked through the clouds this early, Mildred was wide-awake and ready at the net. Once Mildred had warmed up, she was checked in and then assessed. After lunch the matches were posted. Mildred and Robin both ran after a frisbee to warm up before her match. At 2:00, the match began. Mildred was quick to receive some sideline compliments about her strong arm. She started off to a 2-0 lead, but her opponent, Rosanna, came back. It was a hard fought match that could have gone either way, but unfortunately, at the end of the thirty-minute time limit, Rosanna managed to be on top. Mildred clearly illustrated her desire to play tennis by rallying early Sunday morning despite her sore arm and the lack of matches. She and Robin managed to hit the ball over the net 13 consecutive times, not an easy feat! Mildred brought home a bronze medal in her division for her hard work that weekend. Later that day she was treated to a massage to help her arm recover.
For the UCLA track athletes of the 2000 Special Olympics State Games, the biggest struggle was not necessarily defeating the competition. In most cases the variable for victory seemed to be getting onto the track for the race! The weekend started off a little uncertainly with the melancholy Scooter mourning lost basketball dreams, and the home-body Charlie not yet on site. Sheldon and Miracle, however, were itching to compete, as they quickly proved by medaling in their first event, the men's running long jump. Charlie followed suit, arriving just in time to pick up a fourth place ribbon in the event.
Next up, Charlie, Miracle, and Scooter, who after a rigorous stretching period was determined to "run fast," hit the track for their first running event, the 200m. These young athletes brought it home hard, Miracle once again taking the gold, Charlie the silver, and Scooter "running fast" the whole way. Dashing back to the starting blocks, Scooter barely made it in time for his standing long jump competition. By this time, there were several fans on hand to cheer him on. John, Paul, Rea, Romina, and Scott had all come out for the event, along with his fellow athletes rooting from the bleachers. Scooter hopped himself all the way to a bronze--an impressive feat considering it was his first time ever competing in this event. For the rest of the day, he proudly demonstrated his jumping technique to all who would watch.
After their morning victories, the athletes had a short break to grab lunch and watch the rest of the team hoop it up at the famous pyramid gym. The afternoon passed in a fury of competition...but not on the track. I personally took on both Allen and Sheldon in the blow-up obstacle race, took the mini golf and frisbee challenge with Allen (we managed to land our frisbee in a moving personnel golf cart, right onto the lap of an employee--now that takes skill) and witnessed some mean dance moves performed by none other than Mark Reid.
In the midst of our jubilation, we realized we had one event remaining. So we headed back to the track, determination glowing in our eyes, to enter the 4x100m relay. The team egged eachother on, Miracle doing his preliminary-race jumping jacks, and the others reminding eachother--"run fast guys." Our boys performed magnificently, and had their coach better instructed them on handing off the baton, they may have been unstoppable. (who was their coach anyway? :) ) A silver medal crowned the day nicely, however, and we all headed home to clean up for the bonanza to come. Saturday night, there was no timidity--our team came to know a little bit more about one another as we danced it up to the likes of Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys. Not one of the UCLA men had any trouble with the ladies that night--their moves proved to go beyond the realm of athletics, Miguel with a bubbly blond by his side the whole night, Miracle and Sheldon twirling girls to both fast and slow songs, !
Brandon demonstrating his fast feet and video moves, and even Juice swaying with a new crush. Dawn and Mildred were the representing UCLA ladies and their moves set the trend for the dance floor. The post-dance activity turned out to be an organized undercover pillow fight. We decided the time period must be limited to ten minutes (note to self--ten minutes is a long time!). By the end, we all had new hairdos, headaches, and our stomachs hurt from laughing so hard. But business is business and we had competition the next day, so everyone marched off to bed, a slice of pizza (courtesy of LA metro) in hand.
Sunday, Sheldon turned out to be our uncertain competitor, while Scooter and Charlie, glowing after his first successful night away from home, were ready to go. But through his fog of troubles, Sheldon managed to compete, and compete well. The 200m brought more victories for all and the closing event of the day was a thrilling 400m performed by both Miracle and Sheldon, each taking the gold in their respective heats.
Sunday's highlights included photos with the on-hand beauty pageant winners, Charlie and I dancing to the tunes of Chubby Checker, Mike Lewis's photos with the UPS and police, Allen's ongoing joke "oops, I did it again," massages for all, Juice's lost adventure, Mildred's medal performance in tennis, and the championship of our own dream team in the pyramid.
Overall, the weekend was a great success. Thanks to all of the athletes and coaches who made it an experience to remember!