Start Day

August 6, 2015

Enjoying the view in Toronto: Mr.Nugent, Ms. Kent, Ms. Moore, Mr. King, and Ms. Peterson

Here we are at day two! Today marks the day that six of us start working the games. Four people had their shifts in the morning and two (including me) had our shifts this evening. Most of us started off the day with breakfast in our dining hall that looks like Hogwarts. While the others, caught up on some much-needed sleep from the many, many steps we have taken the past two days.

                The ones who did not work today ventured off to Niagara Falls for the day to see the spectacular view.

                Yesterday, some of us met a U.S.A. Wheelchair Basketball player. He was from Michigan and was as nice as can be! We were very excited that we saw him around the mall and stopped him for a picture and little talk. We wished him good luck and went on our way with our evening.

Meeting one of the athletes

The first day of work went well! A lot of us are apart of the athlete service crew. What we do is take the wheelchairs where they need to be for the teams. It is a lot of logistics and details that you would not expect. We saw many different teams. Today was practices so there was not a lot going on, but Saturday the competition starts so there will be a lot more people and a lot more going on.

Para cycling is the disability version of cycling. The Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) governs it.  You are eligible to play this sport if you have visual or physical disabilities. Athletes with lower limb issues use a cycling bike called a hand-bike. A hand-bike is operating by hand instead of with the legs. This is requires the movement of pedaling but instead of with feet/legs it is done with the hands.

                Hand cycling is classified in 4 ways—H1, H2, H3, and H4. These differ in where the athlete is disabled. If an athlete uses a tricycle that means that they have a disability that impairs their balance.

--Aubrey Moore

Ms. Ledford, Ms. Gibb, Zachary King and Rebecca Legenza

A view of the Niagara Falls

The CEHD Toronto team: Ms. Ledford, Ms. Peterson, Ms. Kent, Ms. Underwood, Ms. Rabalais, Ms. Simmons, Ms. Mebust, Ms. Ueberschlag, and Ms. Clay

Cards at Niagara Falls: Part of the Toronto 2015 team getting wet at the Falls.Lilly Simmons, Michaela Clay, Seteena Ueberschlag, Emily Rabalais, among others.