Eric's trip has begun!

Eric left this morning at 2:45am to begin his Paralympic adventure. He flew to the Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center to do what's called "processing". At processing they give the athletes all their uniforms and clothing, shoes, socks and everything else they are required to wear. They also receieve instructions on do's and don'ts while over there and how to handle the press and interviews, etc. He will be there until 3:00am on Tuesday when he flies to San Francisco to depart for China.

I know that the biggest question everyone wants to know is if they will be able to watch Eric compete on TV, internet or some other source. Earlier this week, we received a press release that stated the following:

"Viewers will have the opportunity to watch the Paralympic Games, Sept. 6-17, with daily live and delayed highlight shows on UniversalSports.com and usparalympics.org. The official U.S. Paralympic Team site will also host daily video blogs from U.S. athletes and delegation members. Beginning in 2009, the U.S. Olympic Network will re-air portions of the 2008 Paralympic Games.

For current Universal Sports scheduling information for the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, please visit UniversalSports.com."

We were excited to hear this news, until we checked the schedule and archery is not listed. :( Hopefully they will do some highlights, and I assume the usparalympics.org will update results, but I don't know for sure. My suggestion would be to check these two websites and hope for something good!

Finally, I wanted to let you know Eric's schedule so you can know when to start checking for results. Remember this is China time, and I believe Arizona is 15 hours behind.

Tuesday, September 9-- 10:00-12:30 Ranking Round
Wednesday, September 10-- 14:00-14:15 Eliminations 1/16
(Eric is hoping to be ranked high enough that he will have a bye this day)
Thursday, September 11-- 10:30-11:00 Eliminations 1/8
Friday, September 12-- 14:00-14:30 Quarterfinals
Saturday, September 13--14:00-14:30 Semifinals
Saturday, September 13-- 14:50-15:05 Gold Medal Match (WAHOO!)
Saturday, September 13-- 15:30-15:40 Medal Ceremony (Double WAHOO!)

So Saturday the 13th will be an awesome day!

I leave on this Saturday to be with him in China. I think it all finally hit me when Eric left and that I now have less than a week left. I am obviously still hoping to be able to do updates in China and I'll let you as I hear things from Eric before I leave.

Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks again for all your support!