A team of Special Olympics athletes from Beatrice earned a gold medal in flag football in Nashville, Tennessee, at the end of March. Heather Cullison, head of the delegation in Beatrice, said she felt like it was a good opportunity. “The group of athletes that went to Nashville to play flag football has been with doing Special Olympics for several years,” she said. “We took a team of seven with two coaches and the two head of delegations. It was just amazing to see our athletes have this opportunity.” There were different divisions according to the skill level with five teams in the bracket. Team members did warmups and practices. All of the team members were also able to go under the stadium and to run through the tunnel. “They said they thought their coaches’ practices were hard, but just watching them, we were worn out. When they did the tunnel walk, they were announced the teams on the Jumbotron, and then the Tennessee Titans do a smoke machine, which they did for all the athletes,” she said. Cullison said the team members were excited. “They were on the field during opening ceremonies and just stood there smiling and looking around. One of the athletes from Tennessee sang ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ and it was just beautiful and echoed throughout the stadium. I noticed a couple of our athletes had tears in their eyes, and just the thought that they were out there and able to do that was exciting. Some of them don’t get to do things like that,” she said. The team played two games before, unfortunately, a severe weather warning canceled the remainder of the event. Cullison said that she hoped to do other trips like this again. “I just thought it would be something that all of our athletes would look forward to doing, something big like this in the future no matter what sport they are interested in doing,” she said. Special Olympics athletes have events most every weekend. The torch run will be held in Beatrice with the athletes and the Beatrice Police Department on May 20 at 5 p.m. beginning at 19th and Court streets.