St. Charles athlete in spotlight at Special Olympics USA games

Dain Miller is sweating and straining under the weight of about 200 pounds as Mike Younie reminds him to breathe properly.

"Think about it," Younie tells him. "What are you doing? You're breathing wrong."

Miller corrects himself, exhaling deeply as he presses the weight up from his chest.

"Come on, Dain," Younie implores. "Earn it. Earn it."

Miller amps up his determination and the weight flies up from his chest with ease.

This is just the start of a workout that's seen Miller lift 400 pounds off the ground in his dead lift on his good days.

"It's all depends on which Dain shows up," Younie, his coach, said. "If he's here to work and have fun, it'll be a good day. If not, I'll push him, and he'll know exactly why."

Miller, from St. Charles, is one of 71 Illinois athletes dreaming of success at the Special Olympics USA National Games this week. In only the second national games ever, Illinois' hopefuls are squaring off against 3,000 other athletes from across the county in Lincoln. Neb. At 261 pounds, Miller specializes in the powerlifting events of dead lift, bench press and squat. Of those, the dead lift is his favorite. The squat, a relatively new movement, is his nemesis. But Miller has spent his whole life achieving things people who don't really know him wouldn't think he could accomplish.

"He's definitely a jock," said Cheryl Miller, Dain's mother. "He's been interested in powerlifting and sports all his life."

Watching strongman competitions on television first brought Miller to the gym. He reads all the weightlifting magazines. He's even spent time at Gold's Gym with guys shaped like Hercules who embraced Miller into their culture. Now he's found a home training at the Fox Valley Special Recreation Center in Aurora where Younie is the powerlifting coach for all of Team Illinois. Miller trains there every Tuesday and Thursday.

"He makes it look so easy," Cheryl Miller said of the weights her son lifts.

Dain Miller, now 27, learned the basics of training while moving from school to school in Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles. Miller is mentally disabled but functions at a relatively high level for many of life's daily functions. He has some vision problems. Numbers and colors are a challenge as well. Making friends, however, is one of the things that's come relatively easy for him. Cheryl Miller said that's one of the benefits of working through the various special education programs in the local school districts.

"We walk through a store and I'm just amazed at how many people know him," Cheryl Miller said. "Dain's always been a real likable kid. And he's always just had this special connection with sports. If it wasn't for his disability, I've always wondered where he would have gone with sports. With kids with special needs, it's always so fascinating to me that each kid seems to have one thing that they really loves. Dain's is sports. That's why this Special Olympics trip is so exciting."

Miller is scheduled to compete at 9 a.m. Friday. Follow his progress and that of the rest of Team Illinois at: 2010specialolympics.org.