Special Olympics eyes growth in 2018

Jan. 15--The Special Olympics of Delaware has had a successful year in nearly every aspect, leaders say, as its goals for 2018 start to come into focus.

Director of media relations John Buzby said one of the main highlights of 2017 was the Delaware Memorial Ridge in October.

Open only to first responders, the event attracted 225 EMS and other responders, earning $34,000 for the nonprofit sporting agency.

"The run became a significant event, we had lots of inquiries over it, but we thought let's leave it open to first responders since it's our first race," Buzby said. "It will be expanded for next year, but we're still defining how it will be expanded: Will it include the whole public, or additional groups? We also expect the field to be announced soon."

From modified baseball and swimming, to golfing and track and field, handling athletic events for the organization falls into the hands of professional and volunteer coaches -- a need that grows every year, Butzby said.

Coaches and other volunteers come through recruitment or on their own urging, Buzby noted, with a plan to focus on finding more qualified coaches with experience in their offered sports programs in 2018.

"Not that our coaches are the least bit unqualified," he said. ""It's just that when we lose one, we have to have one to step in. We also have people coaching multiple sports, so sometimes there's burnout."

He added that SODE has ramped up its coach education program, offering more coaches clinics in more sports, with the focus on working with special needs athletes. .

"It's a requirement: you could be the best basketball coach in the world, but maybe you've never worked with a special needs athlete," he said.

Senior director of sports Gary Cimaglia, who has been with SODE for 13 years (and the organization overall for 20), said the experience of coaching special needs athletes is an awesome experience, even though it was never his intention to take it on full time.

"It was more a stopgap job between teaching jobs, but I never left, it's been amazing," he said. "I had a daughter who was also once part of the program, so just to be able to help and provide an opportunity for people with disabilities to show their skills is an honor. It shows that there is ability in everybody. That's something I've learned, and I wanted to share it with everybody."

With the number of SODE participants steadily growing each year throughout the state, Cimaglia sid the need for qualified coaches grows as well.

"It's a challenge in many ways," he noted. "The expectations and ability are there, they just need the chance to emerge."

Often, the approach to teaching a sport to special needs athletes is the same as able bodied ones, Cimaglia said, with an added bit of patience and repetition.

"They all can learn, but sometimes the retention takes longer. It's more difficult in our program, because the number of practices that teams have is fewer than traditional high school athletic programs," Cimaglia said. "So when you're only doing it one or two times a week, and not every day, there is a struggle for coaches to keep it going and keep it consistent and fresh."

With basketball introduced as a pilot program in 2017, the roster of sports is expected to grow as well, Buzby said.

"We've had a steady increase in participants," he said. "So coaches and volunteers are always needed."

Coming from all walks of life and for a variety of reasons, volunteers form the backbone of the organization, with more than 4,000 currently active.

Ryan Bouscaren, 17 of Newark, who helped volunteer at a basketball skills display in Hockessin last month through St. Aquinas Academy, was at a loss for words at the level of skills he saw that day.

"It's pretty amazing, seeing all these people out," he said, shaking his head slowly. "Some of these kids are really skilled."

For more information, or to volunteer, visit sode.org.

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