{"id":39836,"date":"2018-10-01T10:13:11","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T14:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=39836"},"modified":"2018-10-01T13:03:28","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:03:28","slug":"volleyball-player-helps-bring-special-olympics-fall-event-to-emu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/volleyball-player-helps-bring-special-olympics-fall-event-to-emu\/","title":{"rendered":"Student-athlete helps bring Special Olympics fall event to EMU"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"subscriber-preview\">\n<p>\u00a0In his roughly 20 years as a Special Olympics athlete, Watkins Parrish played almost every sport he could, including bowling, basketball and swimming. On Sunday, the 45-year-old Harrisonburg resident put his volleyball skills to the test during the 2018 Special Olympics Virginia\u2019s Fall Extravaganza held at Eastern Mennonite University.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-preview\">\n<aside class=\"highlight highlight-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.whsv.com\/content\/news\/EMU-hosts-more-than-200-Special-Olympics-Virginia-athletes-494738031.html\">Watch WHSV coverage<\/a>.<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>\u201cI love all the sports,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s good exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tncms-region-article_instory_top\" class=\"tncms-region hidden-print\">Parrish was among more than 200 Special Olympians from western Virginia to participate in bocce, soccer and volleyball. Participants in Sunday\u2019s regional event will qualify for the fall statewide tournament in Virginia Beach on Nov. 3.<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>This year\u2019s event was held at EMU for the first time, thanks to EMU volleyball and softball player\u00a0<strong>Beck Hoskins.\u00a0<\/strong>Hoskins interned with Special Olympics Virginia during the summer and worked with college leaders to move the event from Woodrow Wilson High School in Augusta County to EMU.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_39849\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-39849\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/10\/volleyball-player-helps-bring-special-olympics-fall-event-to-emu\/20180930-special-olympics-026-1000px\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-39849\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-39849 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/10\/20180930-Special-Olympics-026-1000px-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/10\/20180930-Special-Olympics-026-1000px-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/10\/20180930-Special-Olympics-026-1000px-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/10\/20180930-Special-Olympics-026-1000px.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-39849\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Several hundred athletes spent Sunday afternoon at Eastern Mennonite University in hopes of qualifying for the fall state tournament.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Daniel Leake, director of the Special Olympics Virginia\u2019s Shenandoah Region, said the atmosphere makes the athletes feel included.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>\u201cThey really love being on a university campus and interacting with the college athletes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Bridgewater resident Tammy Torkelson, the area\u2019s Special Olympics director, said the athletes were excited about the games. \u201cIt\u2019s good to see them happy,\u201d Torkelson said. \u201cThey\u2019re full of joy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>In addition to playing sports, Torkelson said, the area group has started a Fit 5 campaign to encourage healthy habits.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to teach a lifestyle,\u201d Torkelson said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to emphasize five bottles of water a day, five fruits and vegetables a day, and five exercises a day.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>Troy Evans, 29, of Elkton, serves as a Special Olympics global messenger and travels throughout the state speaking on behalf of the organization. On Sunday, he suited up for his volleyball team, the Valley Spikers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"subscriber-only\">\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s exciting,\u201d Evans said \u201cespecially with the great team and coaches I have.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0In his roughly 20 years as a Special Olympics athlete, Watkins Parrish played almost every sport he could, including bowling, basketball and swimming. On Sunday, the 45-year-old Harrisonburg resident put <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/volleyball-player-helps-bring-special-olympics-fall-event-to-emu\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about Student-athlete helps bring Special Olympics fall event to EMU<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,17562,5594,17571,5601,5634],"tags":[6795],"feature":[17427,17426,17241],"class_list":["post-39836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-applied-social-sciences","category-digest","category-education","category-internship","category-physical-education","category-womens-volleyball","tag-diversity","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Student-athlete helps bring Special Olympics fall event to EMU - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2018\/volleyball-player-helps-bring-special-olympics-fall-event-to-emu\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Student-athlete helps bring Special Olympics fall event to EMU - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00a0In his roughly 20 years as a Special Olympics athlete, Watkins Parrish played almost every sport he could, including bowling, basketball and swimming. 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