Wiedmer: Special group at nationals

Until Saturday, Diana Linder had spent every single day of her 60 years within Tennessee’s state borders.

“I’ve been to camp in Nashville a couple of times,” she said. “But that’s been it.”

At least that was it before she boarded a Cessna Citation jet that whisked her away to Lincoln, Neb., for this year’s Special Olympics National Summer Games.

“They told me just before Christmas that I was going to Lincoln for the National Games,” said Diana, who’ll be bowling for gold. “I’m so excited. I’ve never been on a plane before.”

Until 2006, there had never been a national Special Olympics. There were local competitions, such as our community’s long-held Area 4 Games. There were the International Games founded by the late Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who started the Special Olympics concept in her back yard in the 1960s.

But come this afternoon on the University of Nebraska campus, the second National Games will hold an opening ceremony, giving a chance for competitors such as Diana Linder, her 58-year-old brother Billy and five other Chattanooga-area athletes to enjoy their Olympic moments.

“I really want to thank the 28 individuals, groups and businesses that stepped up to meet this need,” Area 4 director Judy Rogers said. “We had to raise $3,920 to send our athletes to these Games, and I am so grateful for this.”

In keeping with the goals of Special Olympics, winning is not precisely what got Diana, Billy or the rest of Chattanooga’s contingent to the Games.

“It’s strictly the luck of the draw,” Rogers said. “It’s so ironic that both Diana and Billy were drawn to go. It’s all luck but we’re so happy they’re both going.”

It might be luck for Billy and Diana, who spends most of her Saturdays at Holiday Bowl in Hixson and her workdays at Orange Grove, where Billy also works.

But for 19-year-old Shiloh Kreuser — whose parents Tana and James began the 16-hour drive to Lincoln while she was in the air — a lot of work has gone into preparing for her track and field events.

“I run every day at the (Southern Adventist) track near our house,” said Kreuser, who moved to the area a few years ago from Wisconsin, where “I used to be a Cheesehead,” she proudly added.

Regardless of what she wears on her head now, Shiloh “pretty much smoked everybody at state (competition),” Rogers said. “I think she’s going to do really well in Lincoln.”

Yet good as Kreuser is, no one may ultimately do better than Andrew Williams, the 20-year-old who already has been an integral part of a Chattanooga Chill national championship in the special athletes division of the U.S. Open volleyball tournament.

Now ready to take on golf in Lincoln, Williams said, “I shot an 83 on Friday at Montlake. I think I’m ready.”

Paul Rogers, his coach and caddie and husband of Judy, agreed.

“His putting’s really getting better,” Paul Rogers said. “He’s learning to read the greens, the break. If I can keep his temperament down, keep him on an even keel, he’s got a chance.”

If Williams succeeds, it may be due to the lessons he learned from Chill coach Lindy Blazek, who’s been involved with Special Olympics for 39 years, dating back to her undergrad days at Vanderbilt.

In the 15 years that U.S. Volleyball has had a special athletes division, only three programs have won its championship, Wisconsin’s Bad(gers) Pack claiming all but two.

To make matters worse for Blazek’s bunch this time around, one of the team’s key players was unable to make the trip to Phoenix, which meant the coach would have no special athlete substitutes in the sport that mixes non-special athletes and special competitors.

“All we hoped to do was medal,” Blazek said. “We’ve always finished fourth, and they only give out medals through third place.”

The Chill also had an alarming habit of collapsing if they fell behind early, which they did in the title match against the Bad Pack.

“We were down 8-2,” Blazek said. “I called time out, which I don’t like to do. I told them to calm down, to breathe before you serve, to just relax.”

The Chill rallied to win the title.

“They played so hard they couldn’t even celebrate when we won,” she said. “They’d used every ounce of energy they had.”

So how often does Williams think about that match and how much special teammates Roddy Davenport and Nathan Rice gave to that win, along with playing partners Matt Blazek, David Grass, Megan Grass, Jeff Reese and Michael Scott?

“All the time,” Williams said.

But this time he will join more than 3,000 special athletes, 1,000 coaches, 8,000 family members and more than 30,000 fans for Special Olympics summer games.

“I just want to get something for my mom and dad,” Kreuser said when asked about her goals.

There’s no wonder why she’s considered special.