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Wittenberg student-athletes and Special Olympians celebrate the last day of swim training in the HPER Center Natatorium in November 2011. |
Frey, who served as president of Wittenberg's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) during the 2011-12 school year, led a partnership with Clark County's Special Olympics organization to train participants for a statewide swimming competition. Each Sunday during the fall 2011 semester, Frey and other Wittenberg student-athletes trained a group of Special Olympians, giving them tips and pointers but just as often simply sharing in stories and laughter and giving much-needed encouragement.
"I was so inspired by how well these athletes could move in the water," said Frey, who graduated in May 2012 with a degree in education. "Not only could they swim one stroke, but they could swim all strokes, from breast to freestyle to backstroke and even butterfly! This amazed me.
"I can't tell you how rewarding of an experience it was. Not only did I make friends, but I created friendships within the Springfield community that I will never forget."
Members of different teams signed up to work each Sunday with Frey, including men's golf, field hockey, women's lacrosse, softball and, of course, the Tiger swimming and diving teams. Wittenberg student-athletes filled a critical void by providing volunteer instructors in a quality facility at a time when Special Olympics, like so many charitable organizations, is struggling with funding.
Wittenberg SAAC's partnership with Special Olympics continued during the second semester and even into the summer months with training for a powerlifting competition in June. Student-athletes from the Tiger football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams have supervised workouts and given advice on proper techniques as Special Olympians train in the state-of-the-art Heinzen Strength Center.
"It has been exciting to see them (the Special Olympians) progress and train as they gear up for competition," said men's basketball standout Alex Brandt, class of 2012 from Lewis Center, Ohio. "Being an athlete, it was enjoyable to help others work toward and reach their athletic goals.
"I hope SAAC can continue the athletic training partnership with Special Olympics. It might be cool to pair a Wittenberg athlete with a Special Olympian so they can each build a strong relationship and have a better idea of how to train for competition. Eventually, the Wittenberg athlete could even be there on the Special Olympian's competition day."
That feedback is music to the ears of Ali Teopas, assistant director of athletics for the Tiger GAME Plan and co-advisor of SAAC. She is optimistic that the partnership with Special Olympics will expand in the future.
"I think we had a lot of success in our first year of this partnership," Teopas said. "Both our student-athletes and the Special Olympians benefited from it, and I am looking forward to seeing this relationship grow in the future."
The Tiger softball team took a few steps toward the additional interaction that Brandt suggests could become commonplace in the future when student-athletes attended a bowling event in February at Beaver-Vu Bowl in Beavercreek, Ohio.
Each student-athlete was assigned a lane in order to assist the Special Olympians. Rachel Ross, class of 2014 from Westerville, Ohio, said she had three Special Olympians in her lane: a shy young boy, an energetic teenager and an elderly man. Each participant had very different reactions to the experience, but Ross found great joy in working with each of them.
Ross said the teenager gave out high fives and danced before and after each turn, and the young boy was at times difficult to bring out of his shell. But her favorite memory was the elderly man's best roll of the day.
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Katie Frey, class of 2012 |
"I know a lot of my teammates had similar experiences with the Special Olympians they helped. Through volunteering with the Special Olympics, you realize how little things like getting a strike can really make a difference and make them happy. The best thing was that I was able to help bring that happiness to him."
That kind of personal connection is the reason the national SAAC organization of NCAA Division III student-athletes organized the nationwide Special Olympics Initiative, which was announced at the 2011 NCAA Convention in San Antonio, Texas. Teopas immediately recognized that the initiative would be a perfect fit with Wittenberg's innovative Tiger GAME Plan, which encourages global citizenship, academic and athletic excellence, a unique alumni mentoring program and community engagement.
In the future, more Wittenberg student-athletes will be able to tell stories about personal connections to Special Olympians. Frey was amazed by one swimmer who is autistic and blind yet never wanted to get out of the pool.
"This past year we have started something so powerful and life-changing within the community," she said. "And for those athletes who attended the practices, I hope they know how rewarding it was to get to know them."
Written by Ryan Maurer
Photos by Erin Pence ‘04
