Heidi Sand of Carlsbad, California, has been involved in Special Olympics for the past 20 years and has participated in athletics, basketball, bowling, floor hockey, golf, softball and tennis. She will represent Special Olympics USA competing in tennis. As a certified Special Olympics Global Messenger and Health Messenger, Heidi leads other athletes in promoting inclusion and health initiatives. In 2014, Heidi competed in basketball at the Special Olympics USA Games and in 2018 for tennis.
Graduating from the Pathway at the University of California, Los Angeles Extension, a two-year college program for students with intellectual and other developmental disabilities, Heidi now works as a substitute teacher’s aide in special education classrooms for the Vista Unified School District. She is also employed as a bagger and grocery clerk at Sprouts Farmers Market. For the past 12 years, she has lived on her own and loves to cook and bake, with apple crumb pie as her specialty.
In 1955, her grandparents immigrated from Berlin and she is looking forward to meeting some of her relatives for the first time as she competes in the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023.