Hi there!

This is Tajha — former U.S. Youth Ambassador from Florida and now Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools® athlete consultant. I’m here at the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games this week with our Youth Leadership Experience participants and U.S. Youth Ambassadors. Games officially kicked off with Opening Ceremonies on Sunday, and here are some of my highlights from the week so far:

- Opening Ceremony happened on Sunday morning at Exploria Stadium! It was awesome to see Tim Tebow interviewing my fellow Special Olympics Florida athlete and Ironman triathlete Chris Nikic during the ceremony.

- Towards the end of Opening Ceremony, Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver gave a great speech with athlete Anna from Connecticut to give words of encouragement to athletes before competition. "Be brave in the attempt!"

- On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, competition was in full swing all across ESPN Wide World of Sports. We saw some powerlifting, competitive cheer, basketball, soccer, and more — not even some thunderstorms could bring the energy down!

It’s been an incredible week so far and I can’t wait to see what’s still to come! Be sure to follow all the action on the Special Olympics social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok) and #ShineAsOne.

Live Unified,

Tajha Ilerant

P.S. It’s not too late to cheer athletes on too! Click here to sign our card and wish athletes good luck at the USA Games:
[link removed]

-------------------

Special Olympics
1133 19th Street NW
Washington, DC 20036-3604
United States
(800) 380-3071
[email protected]
[link removed]
unsubscribe: [link removed]