Team Indiana attends final training camp

Following Team Indiana’s last training camp in preparation for the Special Olympics USA Games, soccer coach Rob Allen shared a message with his team.

“Awesome day, soccer friends,” the message starts.

So what made it awesome? He came up with a top 10.

• Everybody was focused during practice.
• We could see improvement with the drills.
• Excellent leadership from our partners.
• Things we’ve talked about before were evident in the scrimmage.
• Good communication on the field.
• We looked good moving the ball with structure.
• We are learning to use drops if necessary under pressure.
• Charlie is looking good in goal.
• Uniforms are awesome.
•  We are a team.

“Keep up the good work,” the message concludes.

On April 26 at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Team Indiana soccer spent the morning practicing for an hour and a half before the official training camp began. That included an opportunity to scrimmage against members of the Wabash soccer team.

The team has two scrimmages remaining before USA Games: in Muncie and in Auburn, both against travel clubs.

“We have quite a bit planned in the next few weeks,” he said.

Team Indiana’s track and field, basketball, golf and swimming teams also got a jump on practice leading into the final training camp.

Shelby Baker of Benton County said the track and field team worked on running and field events and got times and measurements.

“It was awesome being with my team again,” she said.

Once training camp began, team members were seated at tables based on the flights they will be taking to Minnesota in June.   

They also learned who their roommate will be by participating in an icebreaker activity led by one of Team Indiana’s training coordinators, Donna Hazelett. They came up with a secret handshake, described themselves using the initials of their first and last names and shared various preferences so they learned more about each other.

Next was a presentation led by head of delegation Katie Hilt and assistant head of delegation Kevin Aders, who shared information about transportation, equipment, gear pickup, housing, practice and competition schedules, Healthy Athletes, laundry and trading pins.

Also, family coordinator Rose Terwiske provided a family update. Medical coordinator Stef Morgan discussed medical information. And Hazelett gave an update on fitness.

The camp concluded with the 100-plus members of Team Indiana trying on apparel they will be wearing at USA Games and being sized for shoes.

Hilt thanked the athletes for participating in the recent Jersey Mike’s fundraiser, doing the fitness training, answering emails, wishing each other Happy Birthday in the WhatsApp group and more.

“The camaraderie that we have built on the team is great, and I just want to applaud you all thus far,” she said. “I can’t wait for the next month and a half until we get to the actual Games.”