Special Olympics Group Takes a Peek

Coaches and coordinators from the various countries have been in the Triangle for five days.

Monday morning they boarded buses for a Triangle tour that took them to the Dean Dome, to swimming pools, to area tracks and other sports venues.

Seeing the places for themselves enables them to give accurate reports to the teams back home, and to help them anticipate what they will find when they come here to compete in 1999.

One site was of interest to just about everyone: the Dean Dome, home arena to the UNC Tar Heels -- the university team for which Michael Jordan was the stellar performer. Since Jordan is an internationally known athlete, the international visitors know all about him.

Maria Luisa Vila, a delegate from Puerto Rico, said the teams from her country will be impressed that she was in the Dean Dome -- even if Jordan actually worked his hoops magic in Carmichael -- and it will be exciting to them to think they will soon be at UNC as well.

Special Olympics spokesperson Li-Chun said not only are the venues of interest, but so is the area -- and that the delegates are being exposed to a good deal of Southern hospitality.