His Dream Becomes a Reality

Andy Maurer was an Equestrian Rider for Team USA at the Special Olympics 2003 Summer World Games held in Dublin, Ireland . Andy lives at a residential facility operated by Babcock Center . He receives equestrian training from Dream Riders in Lexington , SC. These are excerpts form Andy’s journal, with some editing help from his mom.

June 14- Team members in all eleven sports from South Carolina met at the Sheraton Hotel in Columbia for a “send-off” dinner. We also spent the night at the hotel.

June 15- We were awakened at 3 a.m. to go to the airport for our first flight to Atlanta , then to Orlando . We went to Disney World where we participated in the Disney parade, then back to Epcot where they held a rally for us.

June 16- We received a big welcome from Belfast -the host city for Team USA . We were to spend some “fun time” there and rest before moving on to Dublin for the competitions.

June 21-This evening, the Opening Ceremonies were held in Croke Park . The 80,000 seat stadium was full! There were 7,000 athletes from 160 countries. Guest speakers were the President of Ireland , Mary McAleese, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nelson Mandela, Maria Shriver, Mohammed Ali, Pierce Brosnan.

June 23-Our team went to Kill Equestrain Center in Kildare where all our events were to be held. Riders and horses wre matched up. My horse’s name was Paddywack.

June 24- Back to Kill for my first real day of competition-Working Trail. I won a Bronze Medal and cried with joy because I never expected to win any medals in anything in my life!

June 27-Competition today-Dressage, my last event. I never had competed in Dressage before. I didn’t win a medal, but I loved being in the competition. I really didn’t expect to win any medals-I was so happy to be in Ireland and to be a part of everything going on.

July 1-Heading Home-In Ireland , I had the best time of my life. The horses were beautiful and the people of Ireland were wonderful. Meeting people from so many other countries was an unbelievable experience.

  I really do thank everyone who helped make it possible for me to participate in the World Games. It was the largest sporting event to be held in the world this year, and I still can’t believe that I was a part of it.