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Many Special Olympics Connecticut athletes have benefited from Nicole D'Andrea's coaching. Here she works with Anthony Bozzuto on his form and poses with Nancy Johnson. |
Since she was nine years old, Nicole D’Andrea, 16, has contributed to Special Olympics Connecticut, USA, as a supportive and influential coach. Her involvement began unexpectedly, as she watched several Special Olympics athletes practicing at a local track in 1992. Observing her interest, the event organizer asked D’Andrea if she would like to help out. By day’s end, Special Olympics Connecticut had a new volunteer.
D’Andrea ran cross-country, swam, and played lacrosse at Guilford High School and has always been delighted to share her skills in athletics (track and field) and aquatics with athletes in the local Program. Even if D’Andrea is not familiar with a sport, she has been willing to try it out with her Special Olympics friends. “Together we learned how to bowl and play volleyball,” D’Andrea recalls. She also coaches football (soccer) and for the past several years has participated in Special Olympics Special Olympics Unified Sports™ relays.
Somehow, D’Andrea also fits in Special Olympics Law Enforcement Torch Run® events and State Summer Games.
“The Special Olympics athletes and other people I have met along the way have shaped my life in such a dramatic way,” says D’Andrea. “I am forever changed by them.” For their part, the Special Olympics athletes describe her as a friend and a good listener.
D’Andrea’s example has encouraged her high-school friends to volunteer at local Special Olympics events, and her whole family has become involved, too. Her mother, Janis, assists with coaching and training while her father, Frank, and brother, Frankie, help out at softball games. She has made many friendships through Special Olympics. “All of the athletes are very important to me,” she says. “They make me feel good about myself and make me want to coach, in addition to having all the fun.”
D’Andrea’s coaching and nurturing, both on and off the field, have not gone unrecognized by others. “Most young ladies today just don’t have the initiative to find the time to do these things, but Nicole does,” said Josephine LaBanca, mother of Special Olympics athlete Donald LaBanca in an interview with the New Haven Register. “My son is crazy about her.”
USA Weekend named D’Andrea one of five runners-up nationwide for its 1999 “Most Caring Coach Award.”
Her work with Special Olympics and SARAH, an organization that serves people with disabilities, helped D’Andrea make up her mind about a career. She plans to be a special education teacher.
She’ll always work with Special Olympics athletes as a volunteer, D’Andrea says. “I found strength in them that I could not discover in anyone else. As I helped them, they changed me.”
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