Jason's Story

Thank you for having me come to talk to you about Special Olympics. My name is Jason Gieschen and I am a Global Messenger. This is my first year in Special Olympics. Do you know what the Special Olympics oath is? "Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

The idea of Special Olympics began in the 1960's when Eunice Kennedy Shriver started a day camp for people with mental retardation. Mrs. Shriver's brother was President John Kennedy and her sister Rose was mentally retarded. In 1968 Mrs. Shriver organized the first Special Olympics Games in Chicago. Nebraska sent two athletes to compete in those games. Now there are 3,000 athletes in Nebraska from age 8 to 84 and I am one of them. But we need more. Nebraska has 19 of the 24 Special Olympic sports.

I belong to Tri County and we have many sports. I competed in bowling, basketball, and track. I joined Special Olympics eight months ago.

When I got to high school, I knew I did not have the skills to play on a high school team. I had trouble keeping up. I still played intramurals though. Mr. Moore, my principal, invited me to go bowling. And Wow! I earned second place and got to go to State. I also qualified in track. The State Summer Games are in Omaha. Guess what? I won first place in shot put and second place in the 50-meter-run. These are the medals that I won there. It was awesome. I was so happy. I felt good.

All of you can be involved in Special Olympics. It can be as an athlete, a volunteer, a worker, a coach, or with money.

My mom has a poem that hangs on the wall.

It goes like this:
We can't all play a winning game
Someone is sure to lose
Yet we can play, so that our name
No one may dare accuse.
That when the Master Referee
Scores against our name-
It won't be whether we've won or lost
But how we played the game.


That's how it is in Special Olympics. Mr. Moore invited me to join Special Olympics. Now I am inviting you to join with me and the others. Thank you.