SPECIAL OLYMPICS – Join Us At SCW

You don’t have to be a super skater to be a volunteer coach … just a super person!
Come Join Us at SCW!!!
Wednesdays November 2—April 12 6:30pm—7:40pm

PLUS:
Coach Training in September TBD
Hockey Home ‘n’ Home w/Aston Rebels— Saturday, February 25
Winter Games in York, PA— Sat/Sun, March 11/12
SCW Spring Show—Thur/Fri/Sat, mid-April
for more information contact Sue Lapin 610-496-6904
Sue@LapinSystems.com

——————————————————-

Since 1968, Special Olympics has been spreading the message: people with intellectual disabilities can – and will – succeed when given the opportunity. And it all happens through the simple power of sport. At Special Olympics, we believe that sports can teach us all important lessons. When we train and strive for a goal, it teaches us to dream. When we struggle, it teaches us determination. When we win, we find joy. And if we lose, we can find the strength to try again.

VISION
Special Olympics started with the vision of its founder, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and her pioneering work with people with intellectual disabilities. It started as a backyard summer camp and is now a movement in 170 countries.

Since 1968, Special Olympics has been spreading the message: people with intellectual disabilities can – and will – succeed when given the opportunity. And it all happens through the simple power of sport. At Special Olympics, we believe that sports can teach us all important lessons. When we train and strive for a goal, it teaches us to dream. When we struggle, it teaches us determination. When we win, we find joy. And if we lose, we can find the strength to try again.

ORGANIZATION
In the USA, each state has its own SO organization. Special Olympics of DElaware manages community based initiatives in five Areas – Wilmington, Newark, M(iddletown)O(Odessa)T(ownshend), Kent County and Sussex County. A person in the community plans a program for one of the Special Olympics sanctioned sports and proposes it to the SODE Coordinator for that sport in his Area. A program’s proposer is responsible for securing a venue, establishing a schedule, and recruiting and training a coaching staff. The SODE Area organization will, in turn, channel athletes to the proposer’s program. Figure Skating is handled a bit differently. One coordinator, currently Heidi Mizell, handles Figure Skating programs statewide.

RECENT SO HISTORY AT THE SKATING CLUB OF WILMINGTON
Lauren Stevenson planned and ran three figure skating programs at The Skating Club of Wilmington between 2008 and 2010. She was a figure skater herself and a graduate student in physical therapy at the University of Delaware at the time. Her successes include organizing a Special Olympics number in one of the SCW recitals.

Sue Lapin volunteered to coach in two of Lauren Stevenson’s programs at SCW. She had started coaching with Special Olympics in 2005 in a Speed Skating program in Chester County, PA, under Head Coach Angela Robinson. Kelly, a Special Olympics figure skater who had been training in York, PA, wanted to be able to skate closer to her home. Sue believed she had the skills to work with Kelly. She went to York to get her SO coaching credential for Figure Skating under the aegis of Linda Huber in 2007. Sue continued to coach athletes in both sports in Chester County but switched from coaching the speed skaters at Pennsylvania’s Special Olympics winter games to coaching Kelly at the figure skating events.

Sue long wanted to model a Special Olympics program like the one Linda Huber runs in York at her own long-time home club in Wilmington. In 2013, Sue met with Heidi Mizell, the Figure Skating Coordinator for Special Olympics of Delaware. She has overseen several figure skating programs in the Newark Area and was pleased with the idea of adding one in Wilmington. The rest is history. Sue Lapin assumed the Head Coach responsibilities for the SCW program for the 2013-2014 season and continued doing so for the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons.

CURRENT SO FIGURE SKATING AT THE SKATING CLUB OF WILMINGTON
Thank you, Skating Club of Wilmington, for providing ice time for a Special Olympics figure skating program. Special Olympics athletes have been sharing the 7pm Family/Public session after the Wednesday evening Learn-To-Skate program. The SO figure skating season was scheduled from midOctober through mid-March. It got extended through mid-April, as there was 100% interest among the SO families to participate in the 2016 spring show, “Art 2 Skate.”

People in this program had participated in two winter holiday recitals, not major productions, in earlier years, accompanying Dottie Ray as Frosty the Snowman and as an Octopus in her garden. Jamie Loper was a hero to step in for Dottie when she realized that she would be unable to skate in this spring’s ice show. “The show must go on.” The SO athletes and their families had given so much, and I’m proud that SCW did not let them down. At least two of this season’s seven SO athletes want to continue skating with private lessons at SCW.

Thank you, too, coaches – Lindsay Foster, Marianne Gruber, Heidi Mizell, Lauren Penfield, Natalie Tobey, Cody Wiggins, Leslie Yeager, Alissa Zhang this season and others in seasons past. This is the clarion call for coaches for next season. The program works best when each SO athlete is paired with the same coach throughout the season, and it would be a shame to turn away athletes referred to the SCW program from Special Olympics of Delaware because there aren’t enough coaches. A coach doesn’t have to be a champion skater; he just needs to be comfortable enough on the ice to handle an athlete who may not be very strong or coordinated. A coach must be dependable. The Head Coach is counting on you, and the paired SO athlete plus other members of his family are building relationships with you. A coach must love to work with people whose potential was challenged at the time of their birth.

Remember the Special Olympics creed: people with intellectual disabilities can – and will – succeed when given the opportunity. The rewards are many; just ask anyone who has coached a Special Olympics athlete.