The Sacramento area has two new world class athletes. Amber Kasler and Heidi Matlack of Folsom Hills have come home with bronze medals from the Special Olympic World Games in Los Angeles.
They were among 6,500 athletes who competed in the games that ended earlier this month. Amber and Heidi earned their medal in 9-hole "alternate shot" golf. In this event a person with a disability teams up with someone who is not disabled. During play, partners alternate strokes.
Heidi Matlack is the mother of two children with disabilities, and she's Amber's golfing teammate.
"The highlight for me was actually playing golf with teams from around the world. Even though we had language barriers we could still play the game," Matlack says.
Their last match was against a male team from Hong Kong who narrowly won first place. Amber describes her feelings at the awards ceremony:
"Excited. Thrilled. When I got up there I wanted to in a way, celebrate. I was just excited that we got a medal."
Kasler and Matlack plan to continue golfing together, maybe even at another world competition.
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