Day 6 of our journey was very relaxing & intense as golf finished up yesterday. This was the first day we did not have to wake up early. Our athletes all had a free day so it was a day to spend being a FAN! Keith, Debbie, Richard and myself went over to the Powerlifting venue to watch MO MAGIC athlete Robb. Robb is a very quiet but very strong man! He lifted 300 lbs on the bench press. On the dead lift he lifted 400 plus pounds. He tried for 480lbs on his last lift and just missed making it successful. This was a fun event to view and watch as a specatator. Robb brought home 3 gold medals on the day!
After lunch we went to the basketball venue to watch MO MAGIC in competition. This game went back and forth till MO MAGIC pulled out a victory. The one noticeable thing at the games is the intensity of the competition, it is what you would expect from any athletic sporting event. The basketball venue was electric during this close game win. We also had athletes attend track and field events. Tennis had a great day on the courts with lots of gold medals wins! Bocce had athletes that took home medals today also.
What does FAD stand for? Well, I wanted to hook you on this concept by one of the athletes on our floor named Michael. Michael last night came into the bathroom area telling me I have FAD! I had never heard so I asked what is FAD? He proceeded to tell me that it stands for:
Fun Activity Disorder. He said if you are here at the National Games not having fun, you have a problem! I could not have said it better!
We ended the day watching Flag Football play a nail biter and win at 6:30pm. The MO MAGIC team then played for the Gold medal at 8:30pm. The challenge with this game was at the same time I was watching flag football my son Adam was playing for the Championship of the 9U River League game against California. Every adult coach, volunteer, Unified Partner gives up not only their time to give the opportunity for these athletes to compete but often they give up spending a moment of time in events in their family lives. As the game became intense on the football field my wife was texting me updates on Adam's game. I really felt my nerves when Adam started pitching in the 4th inning. The football game started out 20 to 6 MO MAGIC but the other team made it exciting in last 5 minutes to make it 26 to 20. At the same time Adam's game went into extra innings with California tying the score in the bottom of the sixth. Do you realize how hard it is to recieve a text every time something happens in a game that you are not at? As the football game came to a close I received a text that Adam's team won the Championship in 8 innings with the final score of 9 to 6! Congrats to SIRCAL team I am proud of each and every one of you! As the clock ticked down MO MAGIC won won their game with the final of 26 to 20! As I was saying earlier alot of people give what they have to make the experience for the athletes to be something they remember for the rest of thier lives!
I will give you some additional insight in tomorrow's blog on closing ceremonies and what I learned from attending my first National games!
Have a GREAT day!
Gary
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