2015 Special Olympics World Games: Experiencing the Road from Athens to Los Angeles

Over the past 14 years my company, Spectrum Sports Management, Inc. (SSM) has overseen hundreds of prestigious sporting events throughout southern California. However, the most memorable and meaningful for my staff and I has been working with the Special Olympics World Games this past summer and managing manage two of the five competition hubs that took place throughout Los Angeles.

Our road from Athens to the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles showcases how relationships are incredibly important to businesses today.

In 2011, I was honored to be asked to serve on the Site Selection Committee that represented the Los Angeles bid at the Athens Special Olympics World Games. I was provided the opportunity to showcase that hosting the event in Los Angeles would provide a robust team proposal of management operations and professionals for the World Games.

Upon learning of our successful bid, our team in Southern California got prepared to host a global event that would invite some of the world’s most inspiring athletes to Los Angeles in 2015 and would at once become recognized as the largest sporting event AND humanitarian event in the world in 2015
As the Opening Ceremonies for the 2015 World Games commenced, our journey of “once in a lifetime” experiences commenced alongside the athletes. This included:

• Walking through the tunnel at the LA Coliseum and seeing the pageantry; watching the seats filling up the floor of this majestic Coliseum and cheering as the torch was lit was stunning

• Reconnecting with the young female athlete from Iceland, with whom I played Unified Golf with just four years ago in Athens, and learning she had progressed from a nine-hole golfer to an 18-hole golfer, showcasing the universal dedication to sport and how personal improvements are achieved with practice and commitment to sport
• Walking down to the starting line of the triathlon, a demonstration sport for the 2015 World Games, and watching as the crowd instinctively line both sides of the start line from the towers out into the water to cheer on the athletes and then line the sand with clapping and ringing cowbells as the athletes ran up the sand will forever be a memory

I am so incredibly proud of the Spectrum Sports Management team who worked hard, toiled away with City staff and the challenges of making the streets safe for our athletes and seeing all of them ready, cheering on the athletes, shaking hands and the care and love in their eyes and attitudes made me more proud than I can explain.

An experience with the Special Olympics World Games is an honor and a privilege for all to enjoy, with foremost being the athletes participating in the Games, as well as all of the Cities, staffers and event attendees that hosted the Games in their communities.

It was truly an experience that reinvigorated our staff and our love of sport, reigniting us with the dedication and passion of the World Games athletes as we work to bring memorable sporting experiences to all of the events we manage and host at Spectrum Sports Management today.