Today’s guest blog is written by David Israelite, President and CEO of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA).

At the NMPA, I am fortunate to work on behalf of people who inspire us with their work on a daily basis – songwriters. Their words and music have the power to move and motivate and excite us.

I think of how many young runners must hear the opening bars of the theme from “Chariots of Fire” in their minds before a big race. Major League Baseball serenades players with their own “theme song” when they are up to bat. And millions of Americans witnessed Michael Phelps listening to his iPod this summer in Beijing. We all understand that music has the power to inspire greatness.

It is with purpose that I mention these ties between music and athletes because it has also been my blessing to work with another group of inspiring people – athletes at the DC Special Olympics. The NMPA has been proud to serve as the Presenting Sponsor for the DC Special Olympics’ Fall Sports Classic for the last two years, and – as is frequently the case with community service – the benefits to those who volunteer far outweigh the contribution.

More than 500 athletes of all ages have spent the year training for this weeklong series of competitions, which concluded Monday. The event includes golf, tennis, basketball, bocce and bowling at venues throughout the DC area.

For nearly 40 years, the Special Olympics has inspired these athletes to achieve and instilled in them the self-esteem that comes from competition. At events across the world, participants demonstrate their courage and passion, as well as experience the joy of sport. And while the program is designed to directly benefit the athletes, I can tell you that the benefits as a volunteer are unlimited.

The Special Olympics athletes’ oath is inspiring to anyone, whatever the goal: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” These athletes have so much desire to simply share their gifts with their family, friends and fans; they remind us all to have such passion in our own lives.

The DC Special Olympics committee motto is Inspire Greatness, and as a long time volunteer with their organization I can say without a doubt, these athletes do just that.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 12:45 pm by admin and is filed under events, philanthropy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.