WEBVTT

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Got a lot of much. Got
a black, I'm got a black got

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on. Let's see and good morning. Welcome to Community Connection on this Monday

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morning. It is eight thirty four, almost a thirty five. I'm Nathan

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Thompson and we've got a great guest
in studio today. We have Nadia Jackson,

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who's the Grand Area Director. I
love that title, Grand Aria Director,

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right for Grand Area Special Olympics.
It's Nadia. How are you today?

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I'm great. How are you doing? Oh, I'm great too,

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I'm doing wonderful. We've had some
McDonald's here at the studio today. I'm

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telling you, man, what a
great way to start your day. It

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was a great way to start the
day, absolutely, and a great way

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to start the day is also talking
to you about Special Olympics. And it's

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an event that is near and dear
to not only my heart, but I

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know a lot of our listeners hearts
as well. We just had a big,

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huge event at Bartiswore High School.
As we did, Yeah we did.

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How did that go? Oh?
It went well. We had one

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hundred and sixty athletes from all over
Grand Area come out to compete in that

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For the first time ever, the
Bartlesville Police Department did the letters torch run.

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They ran the torch into the stadium
from the police department. It was

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great. It was awesome to see
our athletes did well and thankfully the weather

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was nice. Absolutely it was I
was watching that forecast as well, like,

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oh my goodness, hopefully everything will
be okay for those incredible athletes.

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Now, of course, Special Olympics
is for people of any age really that

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have three to one hundred there you
go, there you go, who have

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intellectual disabilities, yes, and other
challenges in their lives, and Special Olympics

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just shows hey, you know what, if I can do it, anybody

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can do it, right, absolutely, and it's just a time frame in

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which people can come and celebrate and
have a great time as well. I

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know we have a great time coming
up here in just a couple of days

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at big cornhole tournaments Saturday. Wow, we do. We have athletes from

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Craig County, Delaware County, Mays
County, Washington County, Ottawa County all

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coming to Bartlesviille High School. Nice
to play some cornhole. We're gonna do

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individuals in the morning and then some
unified partners in the afternoon. A cornhole

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with us. I'm telling you,
I'm telling you that's a game I can

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actually do too. I'm really I'm
not that athletic. I'm the first one

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to admit it. But I can
certainly play some cornhole. I'm telling you.

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Yeah, I enjoyed it two years
ago when the state actually made it

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an official event. Oh, I
love I can play cornhole absolutely absolutely.

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So this is coming up April and
thirteenth, It's coming Saturday, and again,

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what time is the time? We're
asking people to be there, and

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we absolutely need some volunteers. If
anybody in the community would like to come

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out and help us that morning,
that's great, that's great, yes,

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And I mean it just gives somebody. I volunteer for these events. Since

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I'm speaking a little bit from personal
experience and maybe it's just me, but

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man, the feeling and the excitement
and the love and the smiles that go

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on during special Olympics and dealing with
and helping these extraordinary athletes, that's what

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I call them extraordinary, and they
are they really are sent and they they

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find a way to touch your life
while you're giving back and touching their life.

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Absolutely, it's a give and take
there that's right. So is a

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cornhole tournament? Is it going to
be outdoors or is it indoor? We

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actually didn't want to mess with the
weather, so we have it at the

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indoor facility. Okay, it'll be
set up nice there. We'll have concession

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stands. Even if you don't want
to volunteer, come out and watch them,

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come out and cheer them on.
They love that. Is that going

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to be at the Bruin field House
or the phillipse Okay, so the big

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one, the big one one,
Well, that's plenty of plenty of room

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for folks to come out and volunteer
as well as to people to come out

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and cheer on. Yes, this
event as well. We definitely welcome spectators,

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absolutely absolutely. So if somebody would
like to volunteer to help you with

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the cornhole tournament, how can they
do that? Send me an email at

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grand at s o ok dot org. Very good, easy enough, easy

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enough, and send them the linked
to sign up for volunteers. There you

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go, There you go. Now
you have another one coming up too,

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so we have a busy time at
the time of year. We have on

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the twentieth, so that's the following
Saturday. We are doing bachi at Vanita

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High School. Nice. Nice,
So yeah, we're just staying busy.

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So for those who are not familiar
with with what BATCHI is, oh man,

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can you give it a brief description? Yes, for bachi, absolutely

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on the spot there. Sorry,
no, you're fine. It's an outdoor

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game that that blend's skill and strategy. You throw out a littler white ball

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and then each team has four colored
balls, and you're trying to get your

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ball as close to the little white
ball as possible, and all of your

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balls that are closer than your teammates
that's how many points you get. There

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you go. So is it like
rolling a ball? You roll the ball?

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Okay, so kind of like like
a bit of a take on maybe

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shuffleboard and bowling at the same time, so same thing. Yeah, it's

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a lot like shuffle board because you
can definitely roll the ball and knock your

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opponents all out of the way.
Love it. So yeah, it's a

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lot like shuffle board, is how
I think of it. Wow, I'm

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telling you. So. We have
the Cornhols Tournament coming up here in Bartlesville

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for Special Olympics at Bartlesviall High School
this coming Saturday morning. And then the

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following Saturday the Grand Area and that
again is basically the northeast section of Oklahoma

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from Washington County all the way over
to Ottawa County. Am I right with

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that, all the way over to
the state line. There you go,

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see all of them. I'm telling
you. I'm telling you. So we'll

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have a perhaps another hundred special athletes
that might be here as well. Do

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you know the numbers that you're expecting. I hope we have around one hundred

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and fifty for that one. Wow, So it's going to be quite an

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event. So one hundred and fifty
special athletes coming into town this Saturday morning

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for a corn hole tournament at Boloshall
High School in the fieldhouse. And then

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we have a bokey ball that's going
on in Venita, yes, the following

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weekend. And this is all gearing
up for the big event, right,

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yes, yeah, So we have
the State Special Olympics coming up. When

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is that going to be? Oh
May fifteenth through seventeen, And that's in

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Stillwater, right it is. Thousands
of athletes from all over the state will

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descend on still Water. The minute
those college kids move out of the doors,

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we're moving in oh I love it. And we spend three days there.

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We have an amazing opening ceremony and
three days worth of competitions and it's

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fun to see absolutely absolutely so.
Again Grand Area Special Olympics. A couple

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more of this, excuse me,
coming up for our area the Saturday in

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Bartlesville at BHS and the next Saturday
in Veneta, and then the Big State

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Games coming up May fifteenth through the
seventeenth on the campus of Oklahoma State University.

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Wow, they are excited, and
it's again, I just go back

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to this. It's a great enrichment
for the special athletes. It is.

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I mean, whenever I was in
Rapid City, excuse me, I actually

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helped out with Special Olympics in Rapid
City, South Dakota, and we did

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bowling. I was therefore their bowling
tournament, and oh my goodness, gracious,

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they had so much fun. I
was running around taking photos of all

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these great athletes and man, they
get serious. Oh they do. There's

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some serious competitors out there. But
the one thing I've noticed about them is

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they're great athletes. Whether they win
or they lose, they they're in a

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great mood. They cheer on everybody
around them, which is just amazing to

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see. It's camaraderie that they build. And yes, again, volunteers,

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volunteers. Volunteers are needed for the
cornhole tournament coming up this Saturday morning about

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high school. Give me that email
address one more time in case somebody was

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driving and listening they Oh my goodness, what's that email address? I need?

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It is Grand at s o ok
dot org. There you go,

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Grand at s o o k k
dot org. Yes, the s o

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OK stands for Special Olympics Oklahoma.
There you go, sock, I can

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remember that, so Grand at souk
dot org or there you go. That's

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that's easy for me to remember.
I'm telling you, I'm getting up an

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age. It's it's tough for me
to remember some things. Sometimes. Very

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good we Nadia Jackson, Grand Area
director for Special Olympics, talking about everything

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going on here over the next couple
of weeks leading up to the Big State

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Games at Oklahoma State University on May
the fifteenth to the seventeenth. Get out

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support these great athletes this Saturday at
BHS. Give her an email to volunteer

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and then hey, if you want
to make a road trip to Venita,

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watch some bokey ball that would be
great as well, but not anything else

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that is going on with Special Olympics. Gearing up for next season, I

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mean always, always, yeah,
we already have plans for next season in

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the works. We kick off right
at the beginning of the school year with

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swimming, which actually this year we're
bringing here to Phillip sixty six facility.

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We've got so many great facilities here, it's wonderful we do so yeah,

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this year we're going to bring swimming
into Bartlesville. It's never been here before.

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Love it. We already have that
talked over with Phillip sixty six.

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And then right after that we hit
bowling perfect perfect, yeah. Well again.

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If you will learn more about Special
Olympics Oklahoma, specifically the Grand Area,

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you can visit their website soooka dot
org and then of course get out

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and cheer for these extraordinary athletes who
will be in town this coming Saturday.

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Nadia Jackson, Grand Aria, Director
for Special Olympics, thank you so much,

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thanks for journeying us today on Community
Connection. You've been listening to Community

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Connection here on AM fourteen hundred FM
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