Sunday Sit-down with Special Olympics Missouri ahead of the Summer Games
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones brought on Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) Director of Marketing and Communications Andrew Kauffman, as well as SOMO athlete and board member Anna McDaniel on this week's edition of Sunday Sit-down.
The trio talked all about the upcoming summer games, which runs June 2-4 in Columbia. The events will be split between the University of Missouri campus and Hickman High School. Athletes will compete in four sports: power lifting, swimming, volleyball and track and field.
McDaniel has been with SOMO for 19 years and will, once again, be competing the summer games. She's no stranger to competition though, as the swimmer competed in the USA Games in Orlando, Fla. in 2022.
"It was really amazing," she said. "There's athletes from all over the different states and stuff. It's really incredible."
McDaniel will be competing in swimming in the state summer games. Kauffman noted that not every athlete makes it to this level. There are several qualifiers that SOMO athletes have to run through. It all starts with the area level and the moves up to regionals. Each athlete that competes in the summer games must capture gold in those qualifiers.
SOMO is inviting anyone who wants to volunteer to head to their website and sign up for the summer games. Kauffman said they need all the help they can get from coaches, to runners, medical professionals and more.
"We need lots of volunteers," he said. "Special Olympics Missouri would not go around without those volunteers."
There will also, once again, be a Healthy Athlete Zone at the 2023 summer games. SOMO athletes will have the opportunity to get check ups, as the competition goes on.
"A lot of times our athletes don't have opportunity to go to the doctor," Kauffman said. "Athletes can go and get these health screenings, a lot of times it's life changing health screening."
You can find the full schedule of the events and locations here.
You can watch the full Sunday Sit-down with Nathalie Jones, Andrew Kauffman and Anna McDaniel during SportsZone at 9:30 on Fox 22 and 10:30 on ABC 17!
