Day 2

It was rather easy to pick what I would photograph today. When I came into work this morning I had a surprise! My boss found this sign and thought it would be perfect for me. Let me explain.

I am the Event Coordinator for UCO Sports and Recreation and in a typical year we host 1 major event and a handful of minor events all pertaining to Olympic/Paralympic type sports.

The UCO Endeavor Games are for athletes with physical disabilities of all ages. This year we broke records in attendance and the Games went off really well. We had athletes from all across the United States and Great Britain and Puerto Rico.  Our opening celebrations were at the Redhawks baseball game and we introduced our 1st ever 20k cycling race! The other sports that we offer at the Endeavor Games are Track and Field, Archery, Sitting Volleyball, Shooting, Swimming, Wheelchair Basketball, Powerlifting, and Table Tennis. It's an amazing event and I am so proud to be apart of it!

When I was promoted to my current position in 2008, I knew 2010 would be the most challenging year of my career at least up to that point! We were going to be hosting the 2010 Sitting Volleyball World Championship. Sitting volleyball for those that don't know is a Paralympic sport that is made up of mostly amputee athletes, but also includes a wide variety of other physical disabilities (Google it).  33 national sitting volleyball teams from 25 countries would be here in Edmond, OK from July 8-19. This event would take place just 3 weeks after the 11th annual UCO Endeavor Games would wrap. In April of 2010 when things were getting crazy in the office and we were all running around like mad people a comment was made that our office was like a circus! Every person was going in a thousand different directions! There were times we didn't know what day or time it was we were just working and doing our best to "keep swimming" to quote Dory from Finding Nemo! At one point in April I changed my ringtone on my phone to be the Circus theme song! It fit perfectly.

USA Men'sTeam

Our office staff pulled together and with a team of over 1000 volunteers UCO managed to pull off the most successful Sitting Volleyball World Championship to date. No that is not an exaggeration. So many times I was just unsure that we could pull off an event of this magnitude.  We had nearly 700 people here from all over the world who didn't necessarily speak English. It was a sight to be seen. There are no words to describe what it was like working this event unless you were there. 20 hour days, sleepless nights, and a crazy amount of dedication made this event come off without any major incident. It was a miracle.

USA Women's Team

The USA women's team won a silver medal and secured their spot to the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

I write all of this simply to tell you that the sign on my desk today is so appropriate for me and especially after the crazy summer I have had. Nothing is impossible, even when you are unsure if you will make it through, when it seems there is no light at the end of the tunnel, life goes on and you will get to the other side of what ever challenge you are facing. Thanks Katrina for making my Monday! You Rock!