MIAMI (WSVN) - Two athletes from Miami are making their final preparations for the Special Olympics Florida State Summer Games in Orlando this weekend.
The competition, which will be held at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World, will kick off Friday.
Athletes such as Henry Reyes and David Rams will head north for the competition.
“It’s amazing. It’s a dream come true,” Reyes said. “We do our best to make it happen.”
Reyes picked up golf in 2014, and now he’s headed to Orlando to compete in the Special Olympics Florida State Summer Games.
In 2005, Reyes was in a car crash that changed his life forever.
Not only did he suffer injuries throughout his body, but he was in a coma for three months.
He recovered and started to build up his strength, and then a year later, tragedy struck again.
Another car crash put him back in the hospital.
But he wasn’t ready to let that change his life, so he didn’t just keep playing sports, but he picked up more, including basketball, track and field, soccer and, of course, golf.
“I used to play sports in high school,” Reyes said. “That was something that I wanted to go back and be able to do after my accident.”
Rams, the Special Olympics Florida Athlete of the Year, will also head to Disney for the competition.
He’s been competing in the games for 10 years, and he will be running in track and field over the weekend.
“I’ll be running the 400 and 800,” Rams said.
For 12 years, Rams has been working at Publix, and he’s grateful that this year alone they’ve donated $4.8 million to the Special Olympics.
He’s using the support from his friends, family and the grocery store chain to motivate him to bring home the gold.
“The training is what’s the toughest thing, and that’s the thing that gets me going,” Rams said.
Approximately 265 athletes from Miami will be traveling to Orlando for the games.
The opening ceremony is Friday.
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