The life of a paralympics intern, Spring 2010

Hello everyone, my name is Alexandra Smalls, but just call me Alex. I have been an intern at the United States Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CO for two and a half months now. I work with the Paralympics department, particularly the Military division.

So far, I have worked hard managing the master spreadsheet of flight information for those traveling to the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games in Vancouver, BC Canada. In addition, I was able to go to Team Processing in Denver to hand out all of the Ralf Lauren and Nike apparel to the athletes and staff. That was really cool because I spent six weeks looking at everyone's name on the spreadsheet that it was nice to finally put a face with the name. The US did well at the Games, bringing home around 13 medals, including the sled hockey team who won gold!

Now that the games are over, I have shifted gears to focus more on the Warrior Games that will be hosted here at the OTC, Air Force Academy, and Memorial Park, May 10-15. This is really exciting because these are the inaugural Games and I have a hand in putting it together. The Warrior Games is where 200 total service men and women from each branch come together to compete in a seven multi-sport event. A lot of people are excited and want to get on board with this movement. I can't wait to see how everything will come together!

Time has flown so quickly so far and I have done lots of things I never thought to do or would have had the opportunity to do if I were still in Atlanta. In late January, I went to the Garden of the Gods. It was so beautiful there. You feel like you're as high as the mountains and on top of the world. I know my Dad would really enjoy that and plan to take him when he comes to visit in a week. In February, I went snowshoeing for the first time up in the mountains. Gorgeous site. I felt like I was in the middle of a Winter Wonderland. I don't think I've seen anything like it. That experience was really fun, tiring, but fun. A week later, I went to Seattle to visit my sorority sister and her family. I have never been to the west coast. CO was the furthest west I had been until this trip. I figured if I've come this far, I might as well keep going west. I had a really great time. They took me all around the city and up the Space Needle. Seattle is really a beautiful place despite all the rain.

We also started our own Intern Olympic Games. So far we've competed in water polo, a 5K run, handball, shooting, sitting volleyball, and an ESPN March Madness bracket. Next week we play wheelchair basketball. These events have been fun but also challenging. Last week I attended a Nuggets game for OTC Night. I had a really great time experiencing another CO attraction.

So far, being in Colorado Springs has been an adventure. I've done a lot of activities thus far and expect to do more before my departure. Working with Paralympics has shown me a lot about the behind the scenes operations of events and has been a great tool to prepare me for my future =)