Special Olympian Wins World Gold

Special Olympian Wins World Gold By Beth Cassidy Davie County Enterprise Record While most athletes and fans are preparing for the 2008 Olympics in China, one Davie coach and participant have already been there and come home victorious. Marissa Brzescinski, assistant coach of the Special Olympics Team USA Equestrian Team, and Delaney Hansen, an equestrian from Iredell County who rides in Davie County, brought home one bronze and two gold medals. Brzescinski is the head coach of the Special Olympics Davie team. She and Delaney flew, along with other athletes and coaches from North Carolina and across the US, over 16 hours to Shanghai for the 2007 Special

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Olympics World Summer Games. They left Sept. 26 and returned Oct. 13. For Brzescinski, it was the trip of a lifetime. "This whole thing started out as a fluke. The head of the Davie program, Kathy Streit, asked me if they could use my bam for their classes. Once I got to meet the athletes land see what it was all about, it was a no-brainer, I knew I wanted to help. That was four years ago." Brzescinski, who moved here from New York with her husband, Kris, in early 2003, had never flown as far as China, but she's been a "horse person" most of her life. She and Kris worked in television news in New York, she as a cameraman and he as a helicopter photographer.

Shortly after 9/11, after one of her colleagues was killed when the World Trade Center collapsed, she turned in her notice and began working on a horse farm. Not happy with conditions there and realizing most barns would operate the same way, Brzescinski began looking for a place to relocate. That place ended up to be the Dixieland Farm off Godbey Road. The first time she saw the farm was right after a big ice storm in 2002, but she knew right away it was where she wanted to be. The farm is now home to Brzescinski and her husband, as well as their four horses, 19 other horses boarded there, and other pets. Married two years, Brzescinski said they don't Please See Gold - Page BIO

Delaney Hansen shows off her gold medal from the Special Olympics World Games in China.

810 - DAVIE COUNTY ENTERPRISE

RECORD, Thursday, Dec, 6, 2007

Dixieland Farms in the Davie Academy community is among the places where Special Olympics gold medal winner Delaney Hansen trains.

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Go/d... Continued From Page B 1 have children, but she enjoys

being

everyone's

"favorite

aunt," especially to the children who ride at the farm, Four years ago, one of those children, Delaney, was a quiet 14-year-old who wouldn't consider tacking her own horse. Now, Brzescinski said, she is outgoing and "does it all," helping others learn how to groom and tack horses, and even pointing out to Brzcscinski if something isn't done right. "She is wise beyond her years. She went from being a little girl to being a young woman, and she amazes me with

her leadership skills and compassion. ,. Delaney rides with the Davie team because there is no equestnan team in Iredell County. Delaney was the only Special Olympic equestrian from NC competing in the games. Brzescinski said her time with Delaney in China was something she would never forget. "Even in the best of circumstances, it's hard to take a teen away from their family for three weeks. But I would not hesitate to do it all over again," she said. Delaney, like the other riders, have a variety of disabilities, ranging from Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, to Down's syndrome, to developmental delays, and hearing impairments. One of Brzescinski's students suffers from developmental delays and is paralyzed on the left side of her body, due to two serious car accidents when she was young. All of the II NC athletes who wept to China were "high-

functioning," said Brzescinski. The games marked the first time the event was held in Asia and only the second time it was held outside the US. "The opening ceremonies were Oct. 2 and featured an elaborate display equal to or surpassing any Olympic ceremonies have ever seen. Celebrity guests included Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who led Team USA into the stadium, Jackie Chan, Colin Farrell,

"Once assigned a horse, each athlete was given a chance to ride the horse briefly, about 20 minutes, to determine if the horse was a good match. Once matched, each athlete was permitted a short warm-up period before each competition or class. The time ranged from 20 minutes on a generous day to only two minutes on some of the more crazy days. "Keep in mind that these athletes are expected to do more

horses 'the great equalizers,' because you can take a nonhandicapped person who has never been on a horse before, and you can take a person with disabilities who has never been on 'a horse before, and neither one of them will know what they are doing. But the biggest high to me is to see someone I teach be able to do it on their own for the first time. They fulfill in me the need to teach and see the results of

Quincy Jones and Ziyi Zhang, from Mulan and Memoirs of a Geisha. Closing ceremonies were Oct. II and were just as spectacular, with performances by Jose Carrera and a fireworks display that seemed to go on forever," There were more than 160

than any Olympic athlete. They are asked to ride a horse they've never seen before, with little warm-up or prep time, after having no opportunity to practice since departing from their home state. Non-Special Olympic riders take their own horses and are at the venue for weeks preceding the games, preparing and ttaining." At Dixieland Farm, about 25 Special Olympic athletes ride each Wednesday and Friday. Brzescinski teaches English hunters, jumpers and dressage. They are expected to learn how to brush, tack and lead the horses, skills Brzescinski said are just as important as riding. She offers lessons to other riders, young and old. She seems amazed at where she is in life, but completely at peace with it. "The day before we were going to move here, with the moving van all packed and ready, I could feel a freak out coming on. I said, 'Jesus, I don't know if I'm doing the right thing here. I don't need a burning bush, but I do need some kind of sign that I'm doing the right thing.' We were on our way to Kris' mom's house, and just then, a car with a North Carolina tag got in front of me and stayed in front of me all the way to her house. I said, 'Well, I really didn't need that burning bush. but thanks.' That was it. That was my sign. "I think this is why I was put here, why my husband and I were directed down here to North Carolina. I had given riding lessons to handicapped children before, but this was the first time I had committed myself on a grander scale to do something for them. Not everyone feels comfortable working with this population, but really, all they want is to be treated like everyone else. J call

that teaching. God willing, I will continue to do this."

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countries

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Brzescinski said she had never even heard of before. Over 7,000 athletes participated. Team USA's equestrian team had nine athletes, from NC. Texas, Idaho, Maine, Montana and Maryland, and four coaches, from NC, Texas and Kentucky. The US team was the third largest equestrian team. Chin-a had the most riders, 32, and Germany had II. The equestrian team brought home a total of three gold, six silver and four bronze medals. They competed in Dressage, Prix Caprilli (jumping), Working Trails, English Equitation, Team Relay and the Figure-S Stake Race. Athletes were not able to take their own horses, but were assigned horses through a lottery system. They were furnished by the Chinese, and Brzescinski said most were native Chinese horses from the western part of the country.

Delaney Hansen rides her assigned horse, whict named "Reno" after a horse she rides at Dixieland f

Delaney Hansen (center) on the medal stand with her gold medal in the Er Equitation competition, The' female athlete on the left is from Uruguay, an athlete on the right is young man from Egypt.

Team USA equestrian members, from left: front - James Taylor (Texas), Tawny (Montana), Erin Strevig (Maryland), Delaney Hansen (North Carolina), Sava Henstock (Idaho), Julie Bertelsen (Montana), Angela Simmons (Texas); back - J Guiseley (Maine) and Danny Grau (Maryland).