by MICHELE HAMEL
Correspondent
WESTFIELD – Thirty-year-old Brandon Wood will represent the USA in the Special Olympics World Games this July.
Brandon started competitive swimming at age 11 at the Westfield YMCA and swam on the Westfield High school swim team. Through training and hard work, he soon became a contributing member of both the YMCA Wave Swim team, as well as the high school team. During high school in 2001, he proved he was an essential part of his team by earning the one point the team needed for a win.
After high school, he joined and continued swimming for the Pioneer Valley Special Olympics Swim Team. In 2006 he started training for the Special Olympics.
Last year he competed in Nationals representing Massachusetts and received a Gold Medal in 200 free style, a Gold Medal in 100 breaststroke, a Silver Medal in 100 free style and 5th Place ribbon for the free relay team.
At that time, he received the news that he had been chosen to represent the USA in the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles.
Brandon will be one of 7,000 athletes competing from 177 different countries. This will be the biggest humanitarian and sports event in the world during 2015. LA hasn’t seen an event like this since the 1984 Olympics Games. The Special Olympics World Games will start July 25 through August 2.
