Southeast Wheelchair Games: Day 1

Hi All,

I am writing from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in the Penn State Ability Athletic Team's suite on the 18th floor of a hotel on the beach with a balcony that has a view of the vast Atlantic Ocean.

This is my first time traveling on a trip to a competition and staying overnight and I must say that it is a great experience. We left Happy Valley yesterday at around 4:00 PM and drove a little less than half way before we stopped in Richmond, VA for a bit of a rest. This morning, we drove the final five and a half hours before arriving at Myrtle Beach. It was a very tight squeeze in the van as we had five people, five suitcases, a few backpacks, two wheelchairs, two throwing chairs, and a racing wheelchair.

When I got here, we registered for the competition right away and myself and another new athlete, Jake, had to be classified. Jake's classification was pretty cut and dry because his is an above the knee amputee without any other complications and he was very happy with his classification.

I was classified in a much higher category than I expected (about 15 to 20 classes higher) and tried to appeal it. When I went back down tonight, they were able to move me down one level. They said that my disability, Arthrogryposis, has symtoms that are all over the place and I was very hard to classify. This means that I will have to throw a heavier shotput than I was practicing with and that I will have much stiffer competition than I would have had if I got into the lower class.

Tomorrow, we have our throwing competition at 9:00 AM at a local high school. Myself, Jake, and a double amputee, Rohan, are throwing the javelin, shotput, and discus. Then, tomorrow night Jake and Rohan have a powerlifting competition. On Saturday morning, our final athlete, Maggie, has a series of wheelchair races to participate in.

I will update my blog tomorrow night to let you all know how we do representing the Nittany Lions!

- Tracker
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"We all have our own little quirks. Some of our quirks are just more visible than others." - Anonymous