‘A great time’: Local athletes to compete in Special Olympics USA Games
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Four local athletes have qualified to compete in the Special Olympics USA Games in Orlando, Fla. from June 5 through 12.
Athlete Byron Diemer and unified partner Sean Loner will be competing in bowling as well as athletes Johanna Schoeneck and Jacob Carey, who will be competing in bocce.
The state of Pennsylvania will have 122 athletes competing at USA Games and around 4,000 athletes altogether from across the United States.
"I'm excited. I'll be happy to be playing for my team and will enjoy having fun with everyone," Carey said.
Athletes from across the nation will compete in 19 different sports.
These sports include bocce, bowling, long distance running and walking, powerlifting, soccer, swimming, basketball and more.
"I have other sports, like bowling and swimming. I've mostly been swimming all my life. When I got into this (bocce), it was fun to start out. Now I feel like I can go into this confidently and see how everybody else does. I just want everybody to try their best. It doesn't matter if you win or lose. It's how you play the game that counts," said Carey.
"I would also like to thank our coach, Mike Klees. Without him none of this would have been possible," Carey said.
"I'm excited. It's just becoming more real to me. I have a full time job here locally, as a job coach. So just keeping up with work so it's been crazy, but I'm excited," Schoeneck said.
"Honestly, I feel great. And more energetic. I feel both excited and a little nervous," Diemer said.
"I've never gone to National games or anything before other than the state games. So it will be a different experience," Unified Partner Sean Loner said.
"We have just had training camp. So we've met the rest of the team. And some of them are really good talents," Sean Loner said.
Athletes from Lycoming County will get to participate in other fun activities while in Florida, like visiting Disney World.
"They're gonna have opening ceremonies on Sunday, and that will be on ESPN. So that will be exciting. We get to go to Animal Kingdom on Thursday. We get to go to the parks on Saturday, for most of the day," Sean Loner said.
"They're gonna have a great time. They've never been away to do something like this before. It's a nice opportunity for them. It's good to get to meet thousands of athletes," training coordinator Lester Loner said.