The nearest Highland games to me at
, 1992,
,
that time
Kansas City
was one being held in
.
Missouri
I nervously drove to
the games not knowing how to enter or
.
how I would be greeted
I thought I needed
to be Scottish to compete and I was only
an
1/8
.
Scottish
,
English
,
,
.
and Czech
.
,
The rest is German
In other words
Polish
I am an
,
American
Much to my delighted surprise
.
was welcomed with open arms
I
The
.
veterans were very open and helpful
They
gave me suggestions on techniques that
.
would help me in the events
They
.
encouraged me and cheered me on
I
immediately felt at home and was hooked
.
on the games
,
From that moment on
to any
I would travel
nearby Highland games that I could
.
make it to
;
similar
My experience at each was very
I was welcomed and encouraged
.
by the veteran athletes
I made many
friends and had some very interesting
experiences which gave me an arsenal of
.
stories I still tell today
,
is a funny
One of these stories
but tragic tale involving some
'
.
inexperienced Highland games
organizers
,
The organizers of this fairly new Scottish
!
Unfortunately
the potty was occupied
The
festival did not realize how far some of the
.
athletes could toss the hammer
impact of the hammer caused the potty to tip over
They set
and the material within the potty sloshed around
- -
.
up the port a potties at the end of the
.
hammer throw field
,
inside
An older lady was the occupant of the potty
.
During the games
one of the athletes made a mighty hammer
and she had to be rushed to the hospital
;
.
worry
throw that flew farther than what the
shock
organizers imagined and it slammed into
- -
!
the top of one of t