Rewarding Volunteer Experiences

I’m writing to express my gratitude to SOMO, and the very special athletes, as well as the opportunity to volunteer my time. Although I have only recently volunteered a few times –  once at a basketball tournament in Wentzville and once at the Area Spring Games Track and Field event – it’s clear that I will continue my volunteer efforts to support these athletes and this fine organization.

I will try to express and share my brief experiences, but the old adage of “a picture is worth a thousand words” certainly applies here. I also recognize and understand that there are many other volunteers that are more qualified and experienced than me to share an opinion; however if you are giving consideration to becoming a volunteer for SOMO, please read through my thoughts and then “just do it.” You will have no regrets or you may think like I have and wonder why I haven’t done this sooner.

My first experience, as mentioned, was in Wentzville where I worked keeping score for several basketball games. The players were adults who truly played the game for how it was intended. Observing the commitment of the coaches who reinforced the importance of teamwork, following the rules of the game, and fairness to players was clearly evident. The athletes themselves played the game at a high level with a sincerity and passion that you must observe in person. The genuine satisfaction and enjoyment in making a good pass and/or shot, and care for their teammates and the other team was always evident. The sportsmanship displayed during and after the game to everyone, including us scorekeepers, referees, and each other would warm anyones heart. The athletes simply appreciated the opportunity to compete. All levels of competitive sports could take lessons and learn from these athletes. I had only signed up for the morning session, but I assure you I didn’t want to leave. Actually, I then visited the school across the parking lot which was also hosting games, to see if additional help was needed. Fortunately, I was able to spend more time providing assistance for those games, as well.

My second experience was at the Area Spring Games for Track and Field. I volunteered to be a “buddy” where I was assigned an athlete with the responsibility of being with them throughout the day to ensure that they attended each of their events. I was amazed at the number of volunteers, at least several hundred, anxiously ready to take on their assignment. The coordination and organization of the activities was admirable. I was fortunate enough to be assigned to Katie Heald, a 9-year little girl, who had the energy and enthusiasm of several athletes. She truly brought a smile to everyone at every event she participated. I also had the opportunity to meet Katie’s mom and her 12 year-old sister Jennifer, who also was a participating athlete, in the morning, as well as enjoy lunch together. After lunch, we took a few photos, and then continued on with the events. The excitement of receiving medals by the athletes and their families is also a “must see”. Katie’s events were completed early in the day, so once again I found myself not wanting to leave. I just observed people for about another hour in amazement and was humbled and honored to be a part of the day.

I have had many great experiences in the field of education, where I have recently retired; however the gratification from the connection to these athletes and families, as well as other volunteers is second to none. Observing the coaches, proud families, athletes, coordinators, and other volunteers will want you coming back for more. I hope this encourages more people to set aside time to support the fine organization of SOMO, especially these fine athletes.

- Dave Rogowski

We have volunteer opportunities throughout the year. Learn more on our website. 

Thank you, Mom: P&G Supports Special Olympics mothers

We all owe who we are to our mother’s devotion. Special Olympics athletes owe a lot to one very special mother as well: Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

As part of P&G’s Thank you, Mom campaign, we’re celebrating mothers of Special Olympics athletes this week. Visit their Facebook page and share the video “The Gift My Mother Gave Me.” Every share equals a $1 donation to Special Olympics, up to $50,000 total. In this video, Maria Shriver recalls the most important gift her mother, Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, gave her – the gift of possibility.

You can also help boost the donation to Special Olympics through Twitter. Earlier today, @thankyoumom shared a tweet about the Maria video asking fans to retweet. For every retweet of @thankyoumom’s tweet featuring Maria Shriver’s video during the month of May, P&G will donate $1 to Special Olympics, up to $25,000.

It’s also time to kick off this year’s P&GbrandSAVER® program! Keep an eye out for your P&GbrandSAVER® coupon books in your local newspaper on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12, 2013.

This promotion is based on coupon redemption: Special Olympics will receive 2 cents for every coupon used and you must present the coupon upon checkout. There is no limit to the donation from P&G, so the more coupons redeemed, the higher the gift. And don’t forget the savings for you — the P&GbrandSAVER® coupon book includes over$48 in savings! The coupons expire June 30, 2013, so don’t wait too long to start clipping and saving! To find a local newspaper carrying the P&GbrandSAVER® coupon book please click here.

Maria also stopped by the Today show this morning as part of her new role as a special correspondent. You can watch that interview here.

Samantha Greenough goes to Savannah Middle School and has been helping with our new track team there. She wrote the following after volunteering at the Northwest Area Spring Games April 27. 

Savannah Greenough with Harley and Christopher at the NW Area Spring Games

I cried many tears today…many tears of pride, honor, and appreciation. All of the athletes that competed in today’s Special Olympics track meet have touched my heart and made me a better person. I have never felt better helping others than I did today. I appreciate the opportunity SOMO has given me to be able to help the community in a positive way.

After being at the track meet for a short period of time, you start not being able to tell the difference between the athletes and the volunteers, then you just feel like one big family. I am so proud of all of the athletes today especially the Savannah athletes that I have gotten extremely close to the past month and a half. I feel honored to have had the privilege to coach these AMAZING athletes. I look forward to volunteering more of my time to the Special Olympics organization.

When you walked up to the track you could just feel the love and compassion everyone there has for one another and especially the athletes. Volunteering has helped me strive to be a better person and impact the lives of others. Also, one of the sponsors that I was helping coach told me that in all of her years of coaching she had never had a better, more positive volunteer than me which made me feel even better about what I was doing. I loved getting to work with some truly amazing people and can’t wait to donate more of my time.

If you would like to get involved, visit our calendar at http://www.somo.org/calendar or email volunteer@somo.org. 

GO WILD at the State Summer Games!

Everyone who knows Special Olympics knows that the athletes are the heart and soul of our program. But, with more than 200 sporting events across the state each year, there are more than 30,000 individuals who are vital to the success of our program: our volunteers.

The State Summer Games are coming up May 30 – June 2 in Columbia. These Games will feature the culmination of six sports seasons: track and field, bowling, basketball, aquatics, powerlifting and volleyball. Our athletes have been training for months for this big moment, and we need your help to make it a reality.

There are several ways you can contribute to the success of Summer Games:

• Volunteer for a shift. All of our jobs are open to the general public. Most shifts are four hours, and no sports knowledge is necessary. You can choose which event and time works for you on our website. www.somo.org/summergames
• Volunteer with a group. Whether it’s a group of family members, friends, a civic organization or co-workers, Special Olympics events are great teambuilding activities. Email Ashley at dawson@somo.org for a list of opportunities.
• Volunteer for a full day as a venue coordinator. These are great for volunteers who want a deeper level of involvement and/or who have some sports knowledge. Check out those opportunities here.
• We need photographers! Everyone loves to see photos of themselves, right? If you have an interest in photography, this is a great way for you to spend your time. Email Brandon at schatsiek@somo.org for more information.
• Donate money, goods or services. We’ll gladly take cash donations, but we also need things like meals, giveaways, water and ice. If you’re interested in contributing in this manner, email Susan at stegeman@somo.org.

In exchange for your help, you will walk away with an experience you’ll be talking about for weeks. However you choose to get involved, GO WILD and witness the courage, strength, and talent of thousands of Special Olympics athletes. Sign up today.

Volunteers, fans and teams staying off campus can park in the CG1 lot or the RP10 lot and use our free shuttle bus service! Cars and vans for teams staying on campus may park in their residence hall lot. Please park on the west side of the lot at bowling.

Special thanks to our statewide sponsors: Shop ‘n Save, Law Enforcement Torch Run, Knights of Columbus; and our premier event sponsors: Southwest Dairy Farmers, Columbia Convention & Visitors Bureau, Zimmer Radio Group, Columbia Missourian, KMIZ, Veterans United Foundation and Break Time.

Be a part of Team Missouri for the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games!

Every four years, Special Olympics conducts a National Summer Games in the United States that includes athletes from all 52 US Programs. New Jersey is proud to have been selected as host of the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games, the Games of Welcome and Acceptance. The Games are set for June 14 – 21, 2014 and will feature 3,500 athletes from across the country.

Team Missouri will consist of 114 athletes and coaches in the following sports: aquatics, athletics, basketball, bocce, bowling, flag football, golf, powerlifting, tennis and volleyball.

This is an incredible opportunity to be part of something inspiring and energizing. The USA Games allow our athletes to showcase their skill on a national stage, which brings out their best both on and off the playing field. Look back at some of the memories that were made at the 2010 USA Games.

All athletes who achieve gold medals in the sports listed above at either the 2012 State Fall Games or the 2013 State Summer Games will be eligible to be nominated for a chance to be on Team Missouri.

Athletes may be nominated by anyone. The nominations must be sent to the Area Office and must be approved by the Area Director. Nomination forms are due by May 17, 2013. Download an athlete application.

Coaches may apply for any sport that they are certified to coach. The applications must be sent to the Area Office and be approved by the Area Director. Nomination forms are due by May 17, 2013. Download a coach application.

At the conclusion of the 2013 State Summer Games, athletes that have been nominated and coaches that have applied will be screened by SOMO staff and a selection of two or three people per slot will be invited to attend the National Games Selection Camp June 16 – 21, 2013. There will be 250 people selected to attend National Games Selection Camp.

At the conclusion of the National Games Selection Camp, 114 people will be selected by SOMO staff to represent Team Missouri.

In August or September of 2013, all participants will be required to attend a Team Missouri weekend with their parents or guardians.

In March of 2014, all delegates for Team Missouri will have a training weekend.

In May of 2014, all Team Missouri delegates will meet to try on and label their general wear and uniforms and train with their teammates.

Charity Navigator Awards Special Olympics Missouri a 4-Star Rating

Charity Navigator, America’s largest and most-utilized independent evaluator of charities, has awarded Special Olympics Missouri the prestigious 4-star rating for good governance, sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency.

“This honor means so much to our organization and our more than 16,000 athletes around the state of Missouri,” said Mark Musso, President and CEO of Special Olympics Missouri. “We are extremely proud to be known as one of the premiere charities in the state.

“To now be recognized as only the second Special Olympics program in the country with a 4-star rating proves to our donors that they are investing in a program that is using their money both conservatively and responsibly.”

Charity Navigator works to help charitable givers make intelligent giving decisions by providing information on more than five thousand charities nationwide and by evaluating their financial health. It calculates each charity’s score based upon several broad criteria, including how much is spent per dollar raised, what percentage of funds goes to programs vs. administrative and fund-raising expenses, and the organization’s long-term financial health. It then assigns a rating from one to four, with four being the best rating.

Special Olympics Missouri is a year-round program of sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. More than 16,000 athletes participate in 21 Olympic-type sports throughout the state. Special Olympics provides people with intellectual disabilities continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, and experience joy as they participate in the sharing of gifts and friendship with their fellow athletes, their family and friends, and communities across Missouri.

Special Olympics Missouri is proud of our financial health, returning 82 percent of every dollar back to program services. We are privileged to be recognized with these honors: Better Business Bureau A+ Charity Accreditation, Charity Navigator 4-star rating and an inductee into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame – Class of 2013.

Thank you for trusting us with your donations, volunteer time and your goodwill.

Coaches are at the center of the Special Olympics Missouri movement

Most people know the saying: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.”

This disparaging adage about teachers and coaches doesn’t give people who dedicate their lives to educate and empower others enough credit. Special Olympics coaches are appreciated not just because of the dedication to their craft, but also for their willingness and patience to work with another forgotten and disparaged community — people with intellectual disabilities.

Obviously, the athletes are the blood of Special Olympics Missouri — the reason for the program — but the coaches are the arteries; they are the reason it is able to serve more than 16,700 athletes around the state of Missouri on a yearly basis.

SOMO simply couldn’t function without its coaches.

Two coaches who are really making a difference in mid-Missouri are Terri Hilt and Laura Wacker.

Different paths, same destination
Hilt and Wacker have been coaching or assisting with SOMO for 13 and 8 years respectively. While they’re now both coaching alongside each other on the Mid-Missouri Tiger Sharks swim team, they took different paths to get where they are today.

Hilt’s brother has been a Special Olympics athlete for more than 20 years. After seeing how much fun her brother had, Hilt wanted in on the action and has been doing it for the past 13 years.

“The athletes are my reason to keep doing it,” Hilt said. “If you’re having a bad day they can brighten you up. They’re always happy to see you. It’s like one huge family.”

Wacker has been a swimming coach for more than 30 years at high schools around Columbia and Stephens College, which is where she first started helping with SOMO athletes eight years ago.

After the Stephens College pool closed a few years ago, Wacker said SOMO was in need of another coach for the team.

“My (swimming team members) would work with some of the Special Olympics athletes as part of a giving project they did,” Wacker said. “That was just the beginning and I just kept working with them.

“There are these really great instances of joy while coaching. That’s not the kind of thing you have with every swim team. I have done it for two winters now and it’s been an awesome experience,” she said with a smile from ear to ear.

“I like working with athletes that are really willing to work. I like that the athletes are willing to be the best they can be and are very dedicated. They are very appreciative of the success they do have and really enjoy participating.”

Patience, not expertise, is key
With 21 Olympic-type sports offered by SOMO, there is something for everyone — athletes and coaches alike.

Both Wacker and Hilt agreed it doesn’t matter how much or little you know about a sport when you agree to become a SOMO coach. The SOMO coaching department has plenty of resources available to help new coaches understand a sport and its rules.

Terri Hilt, left, with her Unified Bocce team of Beth Brokamp, Sarah Byland and Jeanie Byland

“I don’t really know all of the fundamentals, but I had wonderful assistants to help me with the things I don’t know and then I help them tweak that to apply it to the athletes,” Hilt said.

Having patience and the ability to quickly change lessons and adapt them to athletes’ needs are both more important to coaching than knowing the sport itself, according to Wacker and Hilt.

“You have to think outside of the box,” Hilt said. “You can’t be straight forward. If something isn’t working, you have to be willing to adapt.”

Wacker said, “I’ve been a coach of swimming for 30 years now, so I’m used to the scenario of coaching, but Special Olympics added another element. Not all of your instructions are going to be understood the first time. You might tell an athlete to do something and … they’ll take off and do whatever they think it is.

“You have to understand that each athlete is different and needs to be able to understand what you’re trying to convey — for each person, that’s going to be different. You might have to give instructions 10 different ways for everybody to understand what it is.”

A great way to help some of the athletes is leading with someone who has comprehended the instructions to show the others just how it is done, she said.

Hilt stressed the importance of really pushing the athletes past where they, and so many others, even thought they could go.

“A lot of coaches think (the athletes) are so cute — and that they can get away with anything,” Hilt said. “The athletes know that and will walk all over you if you let them, but I tell coaches to push the athletes. Because if you push them, they will (succeed).”

All in all, incoming coaches aren’t expected to know everything about their sport or even coaching in general; all of that can be taught to the coaches.

“It’s a real learning experience,” Hilt said. “I knew a lot because I grew up with my brother, but I didn’t know everything. I didn’t know how Special Olympics worked. Just getting involved doing volunteer work and at fundraisers … the more you get involved the more you benefit.”

Family ties
Whether you’re a coach, an athlete or a family, being involved with Special Olympics Missouri is like being a part of one big family. You aren’t alone in any of this.

In order for this kind of relationship to thrive, trust and communication are important at every level.

Leanna Krogmann with coach Laura Wacker

“There’s a lot of communication that goes on between parents and coaches and athletes…,” Wacker said. “A lot of times athletes aren’t able to convey what they’d like to achieve with you as much as they are with their parents. So you work with the athlete and the parent to kind of figure out their goals.”

“The parents are great resources in your coaching.”

Leanna Krogman, 29, has been a SOMO athlete since 2004; her mother Connie Dewey attributes most of the positive changes in her daughter’s life to SOMO and its coaches.

“She is much more outgoing and has developed social skills due to her involvement in Special Olympics,” Dewey said of her daughter.

“The experience offered by the activities has given her joy and happiness, providing endless opportunities to stay active and involved.”

As for the coaches, Dewey said Leanna, who swims for Wacker and Hilt, hangs on their every word.

“She truly looks up to them and thrives when she sees that they believe in her abilities,” she said.

“I appreciate their individual attention toward Leanna helping her to see her full potential. They can get her to do things a parent could never get their child to do!”

Why they do what they do
In all of her years of coaching swimming, Wacker said she has never been around a group of athletes who are just as happy cheering on their teammates as they are if they won themselves.

“They’re just very supportive of each other at practice and at meets,” Wacker said. “I coached high school swimming too and a lot of times we had to really tell the other athletes to cheer for the other people in the water and remind them they have teammates that need cheering.

“You don’t ever have to remind Special Olympics athletes to cheer for anyone else. They’re constantly cheering for their teammates. It’s one of their sources of joy as well as winning. They like to be cheered for, but they really like to cheer for other people.”

Looking back and seeing how far some of the athletes have come even in only a couple of years is what Hilt said keeps her coming back week after week to every practice and competition.

“I have an athlete in swimming right now — he started (two years ago) and was a real rope hugger,” Hilt said. “And now he’s 10 and swimming (100 meters consistently). The first time he got in the pool and swam a 25-meter, I cried. It was so hard to get him to swim and do all of the strokes that I cried the first time I saw him fly down the pool.

“To see them accomplish what most doctors told them they wouldn’t be able to do … it’s just awesome.”

To find out more information on becoming a Special Olympics coach, go to www.SOMO.org/coach.