Big Day

Big Day, the third of the three days of LMU’s Special Games, is one when the present moment is all that matters. Months of preparation — by service orgs, Greek groups, the Student Veterans Group and others — morph into a springtime afternoon whose only purpose is to have fun, make friends, and celebrate physically and mentally challenged people of Los Angeles.

In the morning, students, family members, alumni and athletes assemble to launch the festivities with a parade to Sunken Garden, a boisterous procession with the spirit of a victory celebration. Lining the route to the playing field are balloons, signs and cheering friends and relatives of the athletes.

At Sunken Garden, games of basketball shooting, beanbag tossing and bowling are splayed across the lawn. And everybody is entranced by the petting zoo inhabitants: a friendly llama, skittish rabbits, plucky chickens, wandering lambs and a large turtle which hunkered in his shell, the only living creature who avoided the fun!