When Jeff Minor dressed for the golf course on Friday morning, he wore shorts. But when the rain began falling around noon, he didn't stop competing. Instead, he warmed himself with a Kansas City Royals hoodie and St. Louis Cardinals fleece blanket, worn around his shorts, and kept playing.
Minor traveled from Kansas City to participate in the Missouri Special Olympics Outdoor games, hosted in Jefferson City this weekend. He joined about 900 other athletes with intellectual disabilities and 500 volunteers to brave the glum weather.
Although some bocce events were cancelled Friday afternoon, athletes finished up golf and tennis matches before the weather became too disruptive. Many athletes didn't mind the rain, though, and some even embraced it.
"I liked playing in the mud. The first shot, the mud flew everywhere-the play of the day!" said George Richardson, a golfer and softball player from Jefferson City.
In previous years, when the Outdoor Games were hosted in the summertime, athletes faced another weather problem: the Missouri heat. Four years ago, the Special Olympics rescheduled the Outdoor Games to October to avoid the hot temperatures, said Patricia Lutz, senior director of programs.
"With weather, you just have to adapt and overcome, and our athletes are very flexible and their whole goal is just to compete. So they'll compete come wind or rain just to showcase their skills," Lutz said. "The big thing that the Special Olympics helps our athletes with is self-esteem, and it translates into life."
Ed Minor, Jeff's father and coach, saw this change in his son. As a child, Jeff was shy and lacked an attention span. Yet whenever golf appeared on the television, Jeff would sit and watch, mesmerized by the golfers and their swings. At eight years old, he convinced his father to teach him how to play.
Now Jeff is 30 years old, and he's already made it to the big leagues. He traveled to Greece in 2011 to compete in the Special Olympics World Summer Games.
"The Special Olympics has helped build Jeff's confidence with relationships and friendships," Ed said.
Indeed, for several athletes, the Special Olympics are synonymous with competing with old friends and making new friends along the way.
"A lot of the interest comes from just the friendship we have. It's not so much that you love golf as much as you love who you're hanging out with," said Kevin Leonard, the coach, father and partner of golfer and softball player Dan Leonard, St. Charles.
Sometimes athletes become more than friends. Nine years ago, fellow golfer Nick McMullen, St. Charles, was invited to dance by a girl at a Special Olympics social mixer. Nick, now 24, has been dating her ever since.
"The Special Olympics mean the world to our family," said Jerry McMullen, Nick's father and golfing partner.
Although some bocce players didn't get to complete their events, Special Olympics program officials hope the weather will be more forgiving today. Softball games will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Binder Park. Flag football will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Jefferson City High School.
On Sunday, softball games will be hosted at Binder Park from 8:30 a.m. to 11 a.m.