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BGSU hosts first Ohio Special Olympics Winter Indoor games

Athletes are getting ready to compete, including one promoting Special Olympics with Baker Mayfield.

BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — Let the games begin! The Ohio Special Olympics first indoor Winter games kicked off Friday night in Bowling Green with 1,500 getting ready to compete this weekend in a several sports. 

"The parade of athletes is probably the best thing you'll ever see. We have all the athletes line up and march around the track," Robert Reidl said.

For the athletes, coaches, friends and family. this weekend full of sports is about competition, but it's also about celebrating ability. 

Reidl is the first athlete to become a certified coach, so he lives and breathes the Special Olympics.

"Without Special Olympics I don't know where I'd be. So, this is my home," Reidl said.

Reidl's basketball team didn't qualify for the state games, but he's still here as a leader and to cheer on friends like Juice, who plays for Lucas County.

"We're looking phenomenal. I wouldn't second guess nothing, I think we're going to win it," Antrone "Juice" Williams said.

Juice has traveled he country as an advocate for the Special Olympics, most recently accompanying Baker Mayfield down to the Super Bowl. There he met celebrities and talked on ESPN about what the program means to him, but this weekend, he's focused on a championship.

 "It would mean everything, we've been working on it for about three years now, so a title would mean everything," Williams said.

Daniel Jameson has played almost every sport available in his county,but this weekend he's emceeing, something he wouldn't have done without Special Olympics.

"I was shy, I wouldn't speak, I wouldn't have even wanted to do this, I wouldn't want to speak in front of an audience," Jameson said. "It helped me with my confidence and all that."

While some athletes come from far away, Bowling Green native and BGSU student Ann Schooley is hoping to have a successful weekend of swimming.

"It's fun and I've always dreamed of swimming here," Schooley said.

These are just four of the stories from this weekend's event.

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