
I competed in the State Indoor Winter Games for swimming in Columbus at The Ohio State University in February where I won a Sliver in the 4x50 Unified Freestyle Relay with my girlfriend Christine Brown and two Unified Partners/Coaches, 7th in the 100 Freestyle, and 6th in the 100 Backstroke where I compete against an 11 year old kid with other 20-30 year olds. I am writing my letter to Jessica Stewart, President and CEO of Special Olympics Ohio about this because that I should not have to compete against an 11 year old young man. Years ago, Special Olympics Ohio considered age and level because United States Masters Swimming (USMS) uses age level in their competitions and the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) has the PBA 50 and PBA 60 tours for bowlers over 50 years old. I should have been competing against 30-50 year old men except for Unified, I will giving my letter to Jessica and top brass at Special Olympics because this should never have happen with competing against an 11 year old kid. I understand that 11 year old did not have any competitors from 8-15 years old, he could have competed against 20-30 year old men. Also, I made the Franklin County Special Olympics Bocce Team despite I was hesitant because I feel that I should be doing bowling instead. Bocce, Track, Tennis, and other sports have Regional Qualifiers unlike bowling. However, I will keep on working to get Regional Bowling Tournaments reinstated in all 4 regions of Ohio to qualify for the State Summer Games in Individual Bowling and bringing back the Team/Unified Bowling Tournament in the Fall at two bowling centers in Columbus with HP Lanes or another facility (Northeast & Northwest) and Wayne Webb's Columbus Bowl, Holiday Lanes, or another center (South Central and Southwest) and there would still be a Regional Tournament to qualify for the Team/Unified Bowling. Just wanted to give you an update of what happen at the State Indoor Winter Games, doing Bocce, and getting Regional Bowling Tournaments reinstated for Special Olympics Ohio.