Around the Arch Blog

Reno’s Therapeutic Recreation Specialist, April Wolfe, is at the 2010 Paralympic Experience Vancouver in Vancouver, Canada.  She was selected by U.S. Paralympics, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee, as one of only six program leaders from the United States chosen and sponsored to attend.  April is sending daily updates of her travels to friends and family. 

Day 1 – Thursday, March 11

Wow…what a full and exciting day!  Once we all arrived in Vancouver and got group pictures out of the way, we headed to the athlete village for an exclusive tour behind the scenes.  We learned about the construction of the village, services available to the athletes (including 24hr medical center, 24hr cafeteria, unlimited Coke and other sponsored products, etc.).  We were given swag, shopped in the village, and ended the afternoon with dinner amongst the world’s paralympic athletes.  Can’t wait to see what Day 2 has in store for us.

Day 2 – Friday, March 12

Day Two started with our whole delegation being decorated with Team USA gear…we are looking tight!  We then headed to the Paralympic Torch Relay Celebration where they created a special section for our US delegation.  Following the ceremony we took to the ice to learn the sport of wheelchair curling with Team USA’s coach…we have some future curlers in the mix.  Next we went to a US Team reception prior to the start of Opening Ceremonies and were amongst the greats in Paralympic Sport and the Paralympic Movement.  Our evening ended with an exhilarating Opening Ceremonies.  What an evening and what an honor to be here cheering on Team USA in the Paralympic Games…can’t wait for what is in store for us tomorrow.

Day 3 – Saturday, March 13

A day full of waiving our American flags and sounding our cow bells as Team USA defeated Korea in both wheelchair curling and sledge hockey!  What excitement to watch both these sports live and be part of the action!  Following both Team USA’s wins they took time to celebrate their win with our delegation, answering questions and posing for photo ops.  Tomorrow is out of the rain and headed up to the snow to Whistler!!

Day 4 – Sunday, March 14

The day started early with the bus ride up to Whistler, what a beautiful drive.  First event of the day, men’s nordic sit cross country skiing.  With cow bells in hand we cheered on Team USA.  Following the race, our delegation was able to meet Andy Soule who won a bronze medal in yesterday’s cross country event.  We then headed to Whistler Creekside for the alpine events, Visual Impaired Slalom and Mens and Women’s sit skiing…and the snow was coming down!  More alpine events tomorrow and our International Exchange with Germany!

Day 5 – Monday, March 15

The weather was gorgeous and our delegation spent most of the day on the slopes at the alpine events.  Today was standing slalom racing, and what exciting race from both the men and women.   In the evening we headed to Medal Plaza in the village for all the medals and festivities.

Day 6 – Tuesday, March 16

Day 6 started with a very wet 1st run of the visually impaired and sitting giant slalom.  Although most of us didn’t stay for the second run, we sought dry land to see the US take Gold and Silver in the Women’s sitting race.  Following the day’s alpine events we headed to our first International exchange with the German youth delegation in our host hotel and the second meeting at the German House.  The meeting at the German House was especially enjoyable since a German athlete won gold earlier that day and came back to the House to share his medal with the group.

Tags: recreation

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 10:41 pm and is filed under Parks & Recreation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.