SOMO News

Mike and Karen Garrison are parents to Colin, Missouri’s sole athlete competing at the 2019 World Games in Abu Dhabi, UAE. 

It’s been a great day of world-class, edge of your seat bocce. And we know what that looks and feels like first hand! It’s an exhilarating and draining experience in equal measures.

To cut to the chase, Colin and his partner, Tom, won all three of their matches in exciting and stomach twisting fashion. We couldn’t be more proud of how they kept their composure against some fearsome competition from Aruba, Singapore and particularly a very strong team from Hungary. Not every point or frame went their way but enough of them did to pull out the wins. In the last frame against Hungary they were measuring to within a fraction of an inch. We squeaked out with a win instead of a draw which matters in terms of point total.

Colin and Tom absolutely played the best bocce they’ve played since they’ve been here. In two matches, they scored 4 points in a frame which is the most points you can get and it doesn’t happen often. The guys encouraged each other throughout the day and played extremely well as a team. We’re pretty sure their awesome flag shorts contributed to their great play! (See attached)

And it’s not over yet. They have one more game in the morning to determine their final standings. Other teams in their bracket play 2 games tomorrow so we still have a ways to go before they see how they placed. We wouldn’t want to have a peaceful night’s sleep or anything….

Other fun activities today included eating lunch with the team and celebrating one of the player’s birthday, complete with cake.

This evening Special Olympics USA and the US Embassy hosted a lovely reception and dinner for US athletes and their families. It was at a beautiful hotel and many members of the Embassy staff and the US military were there. The Air Force band played, there were remarks from athletes, Special Olympics staff, the Charge d’affaire from the Embassy as well as the lead Colonel from military. All in all, an impressive event that put the spotlight on the athletes. Colin was even interviewed by the Embassy social media crew. He’s an international media star!

We have one more day here to watch the last of the competition and awards. Then we fly out at 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning to start our long trip back. Colin will stay through closing ceremonies on Thursday and fly out Friday. He’ll be back in KC on Saturday morning on United flight 3493 arriving from Newark at 11:01 a.m. if anyone wants to be in the welcoming crew. He’ll be exhausted but might still be running on adrenaline and walking on sunshine.

We’ll try to send a quick update before we take off with the final results. And we’ll try to get pictures of the closing ceremonies from the coaches we can share when we’re back home.

Thanks for all of your support. Your notes of encouragement have been the world to all of us. It feels like you’re sharing the journey with us. And it’s been one to last many lifetimes!