Day of Champions showcases abilities of those with disabilities

Cheers, dance music and pure joy — the kind that comes from running your fingers through the sand in the long jump pit, and laughing uncontrollably while bouncing with friends on a high jump mat — filled Tumwater Stadium on Thursday.

It was the third year Tasyana Thierry,17, a junior at Tumwater High School, volunteered to help at Day of Champions, a modified track-and-field event for students with disabilities.

“It’s just like a day for them to have fun and not worry about what they can and can’t do,” she said. “I would describe it as memorable, fun, special and loving.”

This year’s event was one of the biggest ever, drawing more than 600 participating students from nearly 50 elementary, middle and high schools from around the region, according to Day of Champions committee chairwoman Karen Schoessel. About 200 student volunteers from high schools in Tumwater, Olympia and Lacey, and about 75 adult volunteers — including members of the Tumwater Kiwanis, which is the event’s host organization — also turned out for the event.

Day of Champions was created in 2003 by an educator in the North Thurston Public Schools, and has been held in Tumwater for the past decade.

The event featured about a dozen activities that were adaptable for students with a range of challenges, from autism and behavioral disorders to Down syndrome and cystic fibrosis. It was paid for with about $10,000 in donations from local businesses, groups and private donors, Schoessel said.

Bob and Alicia Liston of Tumwater came to watch their 20-year-old son, Andrew, who is in the Life Skills program at Tumwater High School, participate in the events. He has autism and is mostly nonverbal, but was able to communicate that he was having fun to his parents.

“He doesn’t want to hang out with us — he wants to be with his friends,” Alicia Liston said with a chuckle. “He’s never been like that. He’s getting more independent.”

During the day, students rotated between stations such as a soccer kick, an obstacle course and a 50-yard dash. There also were several non-sports-related activities, such as reading free books from the South Sound Reading Foundation and touring an Intercity Transit bus.

Student volunteers pushed wheelchairs or physically supported kids through the activities, if they needed it.

Sometimes, the volunteers simply watched and cheered, and that enthusiasm and support for the Day of Champions participants is what the event is about, said Shefali Kumar, a long-term substitute teacher in McKenny Elementary School’s developmental learning classroom.

“It’s exactly what the title says: They are champions every single day,” she said. “They are, their parents are, their teachers and staff are. It’s just a day to celebrate them.”

This story was originally published May 26, 2016 at 3:50 PM with the headline "Day of Champions showcases abilities of those with disabilities."