Athletes are currently prepping for the Special Olympics World Games, scheduled to take place in Berlin from 17-25 June.
Cayman will take 17 athletes who will compete in athletics, swimming and powerlifting. One of those competitors looking to make a mark is swimmer Kanza Bodden.
Bodden, 27, who trains at the Lions Pool under coach Ryan Mushin, spoke to the Compass during a practice session on Thursday, 11 May. She said that she was ready to shine for Cayman.
“I’m going to win this thing and have fun,” Bodden said, noting that she hopes to make new friends in what would be her fourth World Games.
Mushin, who has been working with Bodden for several years, said that she has been training hard and he expects to see her hard work pay off in Berlin.
“Kanza trains three or four times a week and sometimes even five times,” he said. “We really focus on doing it right.”
Of the 17 athletes representing Cayman, 10 will take part in athletics, five in swimming and two in powerlifting. While his focus is on the swimmers, Mushin noted that coach Bryce Thompson has been doing a fine job in athletics.
“The more you do something, the stronger you’ll get and coach Bryce, who I work with at the Department of Sports, [has been] training the track athletes, and those guys are training [hard], just like anyone else,” Mushin said.
He added that “the idea is to get as many gold as possible, or medals because they can”.
The Special Olympics athletes are starting to get the recognition they deserve, Mushin said, crediting the late Penny McDowall for their success.
“Mrs. Penny McDowall really put the legwork into this,” he said. “[She] established this for people with special needs so that they can do it.
“Sometimes the special-needs community takes the back burner, but with us, we want to do well, we want to medal, and we want to show that we can do it properly, and we’ve always had pretty good success in Cayman.”
Athletics: Jose Reyes, Julius Smith, Lewin Solomon, Shanike Ebanks, Tessa Terry, Tivon Garraway, Aliyah Shand, Ashanti Sappleton, Elijah Lawrence and Javaughnie Thomas.
Powerlifting: Dante Thompson and Jordan McLean.
Swimming: Dayana Powery, Kanza Bodden, Matthew Javier, Rasheed Lawrence and Andrew Smilley (alternate).
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