BATON ROUGE — Members of LSU gymnastics and men’s tennis teams participated in the “GUMBO Games” last Saturday at the Louisiana School for the Deaf.
Kevin Dessauer and Danny Bryan of the men’s tennis team, along with Lisa Rennie, Kelly Phelan, Emily Ellis, and Ashleigh Clare-Kearney of the gymnastics team volunteered to help with the track and field events as part of the Games.
The GUMBO Games, which stands for “Games Uniting Mind and Body”, are a track and field competition designed for school-aged children aged 5-18 with physical or visual disabilities. The events are not unlike those at any other track meet with both running races, including distances of 20 meters up to 800 meters, and field events including the shot put and discus.
What makes the “GUMBO Games” event different is that these athletes compete using leg braces, wheelchairs, or have some form of mobility or visual impairment. Limited only by their visual or physical disabilities with no mental disability, eligibility for the Games comes from having conditions such as spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, spina bifida, amputations, posture deviations and most other orthopedic disabilities, or visual impairments including blindness.
Dessauer and Brian helped with the children during the field events including the discus and shot put, while the members of the gymnastics team helped during the track part of the competition.
The community activities are sponsored by the Shaquille O’Neal CHAMPS/Life Skills program. The CHAMPS (Challenging Athletes Minds for Personal Success)/Life Skills Program was designed by the NCAA to help student-athletes realize higher academic achievement, increase likelihood of graduation and enter a chosen profession with a higher level of vision, knowledge, motivation, self-responsibility and greater overall success. In Spring 2003, the CHAMPS/ Life Skills Program at LSU honored one of the Tigers’ most memorable graduates, Shaquille O’Neal, by naming the program after him.