There are a lot of challenges for a Special Olympics World Game coach, but none compare to having a missing athlete. It's the one thing we as coaches are insanely anxious about. Yes, we're all like mother hens when it comes to our athletes. We are constantly counting heads, shuffling them together, with an ever watchful eye on them. Sometimes however, all that vigilance still isn't enough.
I arrived back to the dorm from a long day at the track and a foolish head coaches meeting-do World Games coaches really need a tutorial in long jump scratches? Sheeeesh. We'd had an athlete go down with an injury after her race, so there was concern over how she was doing-plus, they had transportation problems getting her back. All that changed in an instant when I found out an athlete had skipped going to her room, while coaches moved the hurt athlete up an elevator. Red flags go out immediately and we started sweeping the labyrinth of nooks, crannies and stairwells of the 3 story dorm complex. Coaches with athletes on campus were asked back to help look. I did multiple sweeps of floors and the onsite security helped.
My cell binged a message-she was found. Another coach located her hiding place and a collective sigh of relief was felt by all of us. We're not in the best neighborhood of LA, so during the search I feared she may have slipped past someone. She's not a runner, but rather was upset about something and made a poor choice. She's tucked away sleeping now, but we'll remain concerned as the days move forward with more eyes on her at all times. World Games can be trying to athletes-it's tiring, stressful and they are away from home. Sometimes parent visits make matters worse, but usually this all improves and it ends up being a great experience for everyone. That may be our biggest challenge.
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