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  Collection: USA Special Olympics 2006

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Wade and Heather Wintermeyer are from Jamestown, North Dakota, where

Wade is a cook, and Heather is a hostess at the local Perkins

Restaurant. They have been married for three years. At the National

Special Olympics, Heather, 27, will compete in volleyball.

Since

April, she has been playing on a team and she also practices with the

local high school squad. To help sharpen her game, Heather’s coaches

have been working with her on setting, bumping, spiking, and blocking.

She runs in her spare time, and always tries to eat healthy. Heather

also has competed in figure skating, traveling to Japan for an

international event. She has two brothers and two sisters. She loves to

email her friends, play as many sports as possible, and she also

collects pins. At the National Games, Heather is looking forward to

seeing old friends she’s met at the World Games, and also making some

new ones. She wants to make first-time participants feel welcome and

encourage them to continue participating in athletics. For her team,

she looks forward to winning gold, but says they’re all stars because

they’ve had the chance to participate.

An avid biker, when Heather was young doctors told her that she might

never ride a bike. “I guess I showed them,” she says. Heather says she

doesn’t let her handicap stand in her way. She learned how to drive a

car, manage her own home and balance her checkbook. “The things that

other people do in life,” she says. Her dream is to talk to athletes in

different states about participating in Special Olympics. She feels

Special Olympics is like a family. “It’s ok if you don’t get the ball

over the net or if you can’t run fast. What is important is that you

try your best and become the best you can be.” She would like to go to

college where she’d study Special Education. Eventually Heather would

like to coach a Special Olympics team.

Wade,

who is 30 years old, will compete in basketball at the National Games.

He has been training twice a week for the last four months,

concentrating on shooting, dribbling and free throws. Wade also runs

relays and throws the shot put. He hopes his team does its best at the

Nationals and that they all have fun. When he’s not competing at the

games, Wade will be cheering on all the other athletes. At home he

likes to fish, ride his bike and play videogames. His favorite person

is Jim Kleinsasser, a Minnesota football player who, once a year,

attends a local fund raising dinner where he talks about football and

helps the group raise money to keep its program going. Wade especially

likes it when Jim tells them that they can do anything they want if

they put their minds to it. Wade’s dream is to one day play

professional basketball, or to go to college and become a coach.

Images:

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Tags:

• Iowa
• Olympics
• Special Olympics
• sports
• volleyball

Topics:

• Culture & Society: Sports & Recreation
• News & Public Affairs: Sports

Post Date: April 3, 2007