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>> I had an athlete who had dreamed about going to a World Games.
He weighed about 315 pounds, so my goal for him, over about a two-year period, was to slim him down to about 190.
He came down to 186 pounds and actually got to go to South Korea.
This was a guy who could barely walk around the block to go to the World Games and actually Medal in in the 100 meter snowshoe.
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>> Josh was born with Williams syndrome. That's a fairly rare condition.
There are more now, but at the time he was diagnosed, there were only 100 such cases in the world.
He started grade school just fine and he had a wonderful teacher;
but when he was in middle school and high school, of course, that's when the evil head of bullying popped up.
It was a very, very hard time, but he had Special Olympics kids just like him.
>> I am very proud to be a trained global messenger.
I was also the first Special Olympics Kansas athlete to sit on the Kansas Law Enforcement Torch Run Executive Council.
I am also on the Special Olympics Kansas Board of Directors as the Athlete Representative,
and I am also the very first Special Olympics Kansas athlete to be on the Athlete Input Council as the Chairperson.
>> The torch run began in 1981 in Wichita, Kansas, at the Wichita Police Department.
There were six officers at the time that came to their Police Chief, Richard LaMunyon, with an idea.
They've always participated in the Summer Games in Wichita,
and they thought that it would be neat if could actually ran a torch in to start the Summer Games.
In 1981, six of them ran a torch relay, they raised a few hundred bucks and opened the Summer Games,
and from there, it's just grown exponentially.
>> Back in 2015, we tried to come up with some ideas on how we could incorporate the athletes more, even on our council,
so we came up with the idea of having an Athlete Ambassador.
We had nominations and we held an election, so our first Athlete Ambassador was Josh Altars.
There are global messengers around the state, when we have events.
When we go talk to legislators, they have a vote just like the rest of the council does. It helps us to get the athletes' perspective.
When we're talking about a new event or maybe having a run in a community,
they help us to get more athletes there and they help us to understand from the athletes' perspective on how an event might impact them,
or how we might be able to include athletes more in the events that we do hold.
>> About once a week or so, I'll have someone who asks, "When is the Special Olympics in Kansas?"
What they're referring to they're thinking we just run one track meet every year,
but the facts are that we have 19 sports and almost 75 competitions,
and many of our athletes are training year-round for different sports.
>> The Unified Sports are when you have athletes with intellectual disability competing on the same playing field,
on the same teams with their peers without an intellectual disability, it's really all about inclusion.
It's going outside of just the traditional Special Olympics of athletes competing on the field,
bringing athletes and partners together and showcasing them.
>> Unified Sports is a very unique program, and it's been wonderful for our school district,
Arianna, and all the partners that are involved in it.
With them being involved in the sports together, it's made a huge impact for the athletes and for their peers too.
I don't think their peers fully understood what it was and the struggles that a lot of athletes have had throughout the years.
>> What's your favorite thing about playing soccer at Sporting KC? soccer at Sporting KC? >> I could do [unintelligible] a game.
>> Do you have a favorite Sporting KC player? >> Graham Zusi. >> Did you get to meet him?
>> Yeah. >> How was that? >> Good!
>> We're in 35 schools across Kansas, and we plan to be in 70 schools in the next three years.
>> Truly, Unified Champion Schools is a great program that helps athletes with and without disabilities to get along in schools.
It teaches inclusion and it becomes something that [help to] take away bullying in the schools.
Our athletes have friends and confidants. It is a program that is life changing, once you get to see it.
>> You always hear from individuals who talk about how much more outgoing their child or their student is,
that maybe within the classroom, in a special education situation, or even at home with their parents,
how they used to be quite lethargic and wouldn't want to do anything,
but now they want to go work out and get ready for their basketball games.
You always see on Facebook with social media being such a big presence now,
of student managers who are Special Olympic athletes who can possibly play in a regular basketball game and hit the winning shot.
As a parent, I know how much that meant to my child;
and also in turn as a grandparent, I know how much that means to have that success and how much self-confidence that gives you.
Just think how much it gives an athlete, especially a special-needs athlete.
>> I don't know how to describe working with Special Olympians. It's something that just grabs you and won't let go.
The sense of taking individuals with intellectual disabilities who don't have the full capacity or capability
to do some of the things that we normally can do, and having them learn something that they can conquer and they can succeed in,
you get paid many times over by just a smile on their faces when they're successful.
There's nothing like the smile on an athlete's face, standing on the podium, or on the winner's circle,
with a medal being draped around their neck.
>> What's your favorite sport? >> My favorite sport is track. >> What do you love about it?
>> I get to run. >> You like running? >> Yeah!
>> I've learned as a Special Olympic athlete leader that it takes a village,
all of us working together to change our lives for respect and inclusion.
>> I may be [unintelligible], but now they let me be [unintelligible].
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