PIQUA — It was a “special” day at No Name Athletics Saturday as Co-owners A.J. Ouellette and Brandon Wirrig hosted the No Name Athletics Special Needs powerlifting competition, with approximately 40 lifters competing. 

And the excitement and reactions from all the lifters told the story. 

“Brandon (Wirrig) had talked to me about it when I was up in Canada (playing professional football in the CFL),” Ouellette said. “Brandon has been working with the lifters from Darke County for several years.” 

Wirrig was happy to give the lifters a home meet. 

“I have been working with the Special Olympics in Darke County for two or three years,” Wirrig said. “They always have to do a lot of traveling to meets. I thought it would be nice to give them a home meet.” 

And it was a huge success. 

Whether it was “The Rooster”, shouting “cock-a-doodle-do” after a huge lift, “Super Coop” taking things in stride, “Hipster” having a big smile that never left her face or “Bulldog” finishing off the meet with one of the many PRs Saturday, the reactions of the lifters and their families made it a special day. 

“I know the feeling when you are about five yards from the end zone and going to score a touchdown,” Ouellette said. “The adrenaline that goes through you. That’s what they were feeling. It was great to see all their reactions.” 

Wirrig agreed. 

“We had a lot of PRs today and you see how excited they get.” 

No Name Athletics hopes to make it an annual event. 

“We put this together pretty quickly,” Ouellette said. “Hopefully, we continue to grow it.” 

Wirrig agreed. 

“We might have to go to a bigger place,” Wirrig said. “Just seeing the lifters reactions makes it all worth it.” 

On a “Special” day at No Name Athletics.