Southern California Special Olympic Summer Games 2013

Its hard to believe another year has come and gone.  Another great weekend at California State University Long Beach covering the Southern California Special Olympic Summer Games is in the books.  This year was even better as I was able to hang out and shoot the two-day event with a good friend of mine, who is an outstanding photographer herself.  Shelly from Shelly Rosen Photography spent both days covering the event from opening to closing ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

 

The Special Olympics have many organizations who volunteer their time and effort to make the Special Olympics what it is today.  One of these groups is Law Enforcement, which holds a special part in my heart considering my 25 years with the LAPD.

 

So of course I had to honor them with some shots which I take during the opening ceremony.  The thing I love about the opening ceremony is the interaction between the athletes and the police, who line up on both sides making a pathway for all of the athletes to walk down to their staging area.

 

 

Once all the athletes are in place the fun begins.  This year Austin Anderson came in and sang for the athletes.

 

 

This is followed by the Long Beach Police Department's Color Guard who presented the colors opening the way for the Olympic torch to be brought in.

 

 

Now its time for the games are all about - outstanding athletes competing in what they love, which you can obviously see on their faces.  Shelly and I spent the weekend covering the various events for the Southern California Special Olympics.  Now our photo sheets requested us to cover track, basketball, bocce ball, and swimming, as well as opening / closing ceremony.  You will see we both wandered from what was on the list, but once you see the shots you'll understand why.

 

 

I tried my hand at some creative pool shots before capturing the action.

 

 

 

 

 

Now gymnastics wasn't on our list of events to cover, but how can I not at least stop by.  These athletes always put a smile on my face and I hope you seeing these shots puts a smile on your face as well.

 

 

Thanks for looking through this years shots and I look forward to covering next years Southern California Special Olympic Summer Games, which will be held at California State University Southern California (USC).  So until next year may the torch continue bright.