Over the weekend, Special Olympics Oregon hosted its summer games in Corvallis. Athletes with intellectual disabilities compete in various events for the season, including track and field, golf, softball and bocce, Rachel Parsons is an athlete that competed in bocce. Ben Fields is an athlete who competed in softball. They both join us to share how this weekend went and why they compete.
Note: The following transcript was transcribed digitally and validated for accuracy, readability and formatting by an OPB volunteer.
Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. Over this past weekend, Special Olympics Oregon hosted its summer games in Corvallis. Athletes with intellectual disabilities from around the state competed in track and field, golf, softball and bocce. Two of those athletes join me now. Rachel Parsons from Portland played bocce. Ben Fields, also from Portland, played softball. Welcome to both of you.
Rachel Parsons: Thank you for having us.
Ben Fields: Thanks for having us.
Miller: Rachel, how long have you been participating in Special Olympics?
Parsons: I have been taking part in Special Olympics for 29 years.
Miller: Twenty-nine years. What got you started?
Parsons: What got me started is that I’ve always loved sports, but as a child we couldn’t find an organization for me to play sports in where I fit in. So when we moved back to Oregon, my mom found Special Olympics Oregon.
Miller: What different sports have you played over the course of almost 30 years?
Parsons: I have done bocce ball, basketball, volleyball, swimming, track and field, soccer. I believe that’s it?
Miller: It’s a long list. Do you have a favorite of all those sports?
Parsons: Bocce ball.
Miller: OK, I want to hear more about bocce because that’s what you just did this weekend.
But as I mentioned, Ben Fields is with us as well. Ben, what about you? When did you start Special Olympics?
Fields: I started around the year of either 2009 or 2010. It’s been a long time, I can’t remember exactly, but I’ve done a lot over the years.
Miller: Fifteen or 16 years for you. What have you played over those years?
Fields: I’ve done basketball, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding, softball, bocce, bowling, volleyball, golf. Almost every sport that we offer.
Miller: Including a bunch of winter ones. And it was softball that you did this year, right?
Fields: Correct.
Miller: How did it go?
Fields: In my opinion, it went really well. I feel like I personally myself did a lot better than I was expecting, because I really haven’t done a ball and bat sport like that since I did little league baseball 10 years ago. So I consider it a success myself.
Miller: Softball is obviously a team sport, unlike some of the other ones that you mentioned. How much time do you have to practice as a team?
Fields: So our sports practices for each season, which there’s winter, summer and fall, we practice for eight weeks.
Miller: Did you have a position in softball that you played most of the time?
Fields: At competition and that practice, I played a combination of shortstop and outfield behind second base.
Miller: Rachel, to go back to you, you said that your favorite sport out of a long list [which] included basketball, volleyball, swimming, track and field, soccer, was bocce, which you just did last weekend. My guess is there are some people who haven’t played bocce before. Can you just remind us how it works?
Parsons: So bocce, it’s kind of like lawn bowling. You have a pallino, which is a little white ball, and you step into the kitchen, and you roll it … and you have to go beyond a certain point. And then you take a color of whatever ball you have, which is either red or green, and then you roll that. Then the opponent will step in the kitchen and roll their color of ball into the court, and whoever is furthest away will roll again until they either get closer or they’re out of balls. And then it’ll go back to the original team, and it just goes back and forth. You have a chance to score four points each round.
Miller: And whoever’s closest to the little, small ball, that’s the team that scores that round.
Parsons: Yes.
Miller: One of the things you can do from my memory is try to smash the other team’s balls away.
Parsons: Yeah, you can knock the opponent’s ball out of bounds, you can knock it out of the way of the pallino. It’s a strategy game, kind of like chess.
Miller: I always find that very satisfying, even if I’m not improving my chances, just to knock the other balls away is always very exciting. How did it go for you this weekend?
Parsons: This weekend went well. We got the gold medal, so it was a great weekend for us. It was hot, but it was a great weekend.
Miller: How important is winning to you?
Parsons: Winning is important, but having fun is more important to me.
Miller: And it seems like you did both this past weekend. You got the gold medal, and you had fun.
Parsons: Oh yeah. Next year we have USA games. So this summer season they’re picking for the USA games, so it was an important season.
Miller: Oh, meaning the state champions can represent the U.S. internationally?
Parsons: Yeah, if they get picked. It’s like a random lottery.
Miller: But winning gold increases your chances. And then maybe you can go against Italian players or French players.
Parsons: Yeah. Or other players from the U.S., yeah.
Miller: Ben, what about you? As Rachel said, winning is important but having fun is more important. How do you think about that balance?
Fields: Well, for me, as much as I like winning, I think it’s important to have fun. Because in the end, sport is about fun. And as much as we might like to win, if we’re not having fun, then that’s toxic to the players around you. And if they see that you’re not having fun, then your chances of winning might lower. So I feel like the two go hand in hand. As you might see for example on the team, the really good teams also know how to have fun. So I feel like the two go hand in hand, if that answers your question.
Miller: Yeah. Rachel, how big a spread in skill levels do you find in any given competition?
Parsons: I’m gonna use the bocce ball as an example. So we can have anywhere from E level all the way up to A level. Let’s say somebody is Traditional Male E. So they’re gonna be in Traditional Male E level division. And then somebody else will be in Traditional Male A division, so they’ll compete with Traditional Male A.
Miller: And those letters are about athletic ability or something else?
Parsons: It’s about what division they’re in, so athletic, where they’re placed.
Miller: I understand that in the past, both of you have taken part in an annual fundraiser that actually happens probably a quarter mile from our radio studios here along the Willamette at Willamette Park. It’s the annual Polar Plunge. Ben, can you describe what that scene is like ? This happens in February.
Fields: The scene is very lively. At our Portland Polar Plunge, we easily have at least 600 that come each year, I believe. And basically, for the single plunge, everyone that participates will run into the cold waters of the Willamette. So we’ll run in and run back out real quickly. They basically raise money for the organization in order to get into the water. And then in addition to that, in Portland we also have what’s called the super plunge where athletes will basically do that, but 24 times in 24 hours
Miller: Once every hour for an entire day.
Parsons: And that one’s not only athletes, it’s also like partners and stuff like that too.
Miller: Rachel, what’s it like to jump in the Willamette in February?
Parsons: It’s freezing cold, but it’s totally worth it. The cause is totally worth it. I’m already signed up to do it for next February.
Miller: Rachel, what has kept you coming back? As you said at the beginning, you’ve been doing this now, various sports, various seasons for 29 years. What has kept you in this?
Parsons: The community, the friendships I built. It’s like a second family. So just being around the people that I love.
Miller: Ben, what about you? 15 years and counting.
Fields: It’s definitely the community and that feeling of being part of a family. And definitely that sense of accomplishment. But also, for people with disabilities, it’s also a place for them to make their voice heard through the action of sport, but also through other things as well, such as lobbying. And maybe just other sorts of various opportunities to basically get together, be part of like that community and hang out with each other. It gives them a place to belong.
Miller: Rachel, what do you plan to compete in in the fall?
Parsons: I plan on competing in volleyball in the fall.
Miller: And Ben, what about you? What’s next?
Fields: Also volleyball.
Miller: Ben Fields and Rachel Parsons, congratulations and thanks so much.
Parsons: Thank you for having us.
Fields: Thanks so much.
Miller: Rachel Parsons played bocce, Ben Fields [played] softball in this past weekend’s summer games in Corvallis put on by the group Special Olympics Oregon.
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