Today in Minneapolis, on-the-job training kicks off for nine pairs of Special Olympics athlete leaders and partners at the Special Olympics USA Games.
They’ve traveled from cities across the United States to Minneapolis to volunteer at this big regional Games and to learn what they can about how it is run. They’ll learn by doing, watching, and asking questions. And this is a truly big Games, with as many as 3,000 athletes, 1,500 coaches and competitions in 16 sports.
And they are unlike other volunteers because they’re part of a new program called Adult Athlete Leadership Experience (AALE). AALE pairs a Special Olympics athlete with intellectual disability with a partner who does not have an intellectual disability. The goal is for each AALE pair to spend time observing and learning the ins and outs of what makes each operational area critical to successful events.
Solving Challenges At Home Starts with Volunteering in Minneapolis
Their work began early this morning. It won’t end until long after the Closing Ceremony on June 26. These AALE pairs will be volunteering for the USA Games Local Organizing Committee, which organized the USA Games. They will volunteer in special events, marketing and communications, health and fitness clinics, sports, and anywhere else they’re needed and assigned.
Every AALE pair has identified challenges they want to help solve at their own Special Olympics Programs. They’ve planned projects they hope will help solve those challenges. Their days of volunteering at the USA Games are hands-on time to see what might work back home.
Take volunteer training, the process of getting people familiar with the roles they will play during competitions. It doesn’t always go well.
“I’ve seen it firsthand with basketball,” says Shane Flanagan, a staff member with Special Olympics New Mexico who is paired with Athlete Leader Shiv Patel. “We had volunteers come in, no idea of how to keep score, and there's a lot of pressure that we are putting on them. If they're behind, if there's confusion, then it kind of multiplies and snowballs.”
Flanagan and Patel make up one of three AALE pairs focused on the operational area of volunteer services. Volunteering is an essential aspect of Special Olympics competitions everywhere, large or small.
“From an athlete perspective, the volunteers help make the Games possible. Without them, we don't have the refs, we don't have score takers, so the volunteers are super important,” says Joshua Wiese, an athlete leader from Special Olympics Missouri. He is paired with Haley Blevins, a staffer at the Program.
“We've been working on ways to retain volunteers from event to event, finding different ways to make sure we can educate and retain the volunteers from year to year and make it so they want to come back,” Wiese says. Wiese and Blevins have already been impressed with the volunteer training they’ve received from the team running the USA Games. Seeing how it plays out is the next piece.
Learning From a Wide Variety of Experiences
For some AALE participants, the time at USA Games will fulfill wishes they’ve had for a long time.
“I want to see Healthy Athletes on a grand scale,” says Talon Rodriguez, whose job at Special Olympics Oklahoma includes running the Healthy Athletes health and fitness clinics often held at competitions.
At Oklahoma’s big events, “It takes quite a long time to get our athletes through it,” she says. She’s hopeful she’ll learn new ways to manage lines where athletes’ vision, hearing, dental, foot, fitness, and mental wellness are assessed.
Rodriguez’s chance to be at the USA Games with Athlete Leader Kearsty McCoy arose when they were chosen for the AALE initiative. All nine AALE pairs applied to take part more than a year ago. The ones chosen have had a lot of work to do. All of them met in Kansas for training earlier this year. They’ve been attending virtual planning meetings as a group and with the managers of their USA Games areas.
Projects At Home will be Supported by Grants
After the USA Games, every AALE pair will put what they’ve learned to work with the help of $5,000 grants. The AALE project was underwritten by a grant from longtime Special Olympics partner Bank of America.
The goals of the projects and of the individuals vary widely.
The project goal for the Special Olympics New York team is improving their Program’s future opening and closing ceremonies. Athlete Leader Emily Brushafer is paired with volunteer Jill Warner of Special Olympics New York.
Brushafer says she loved watching Opening Ceremony at the 2022 USA Games in Orlando.
“I never forgot about it,” Brushafer says. And she missed Closing Ceremony in Orlando because of COVID. Being on site at the USA Games is her chance to see and learn about Closing Ceremony operations firsthand.
The AALE Sports team from Special Olympics Indiana is in it for the pickleball.
"I basically want to learn about pickleball and step up in my dad's shoes — hopefully become a coach,” says Athlete Leader Justin Wilson, who is paired with Greg Townsend, a Program staffer. “My dad coached me in basketball, softball, and track. He's no longer around, and I want to do what he did."
Seeing and talking to video professionals at work every day at the USA Games intrigues Athlete Leader Daniel Schnacker of Special Olympics Kansas.
“I want to learn more elite video editing techniques. I want to learn from the pros,” says Schnacker. He’s paired with Program staffer Kenneth Wilson. They’re planning to improve the Program’s social media outreach through storytelling. In the run-up to the USA Games, they were assigned a small filming-and-editing project.
“It was a pretty fun, innovative project to kind of just get us started,” Kenneth Wilson says. At the Games, “We'll pretty much be running around the venue looking for potential stories and amazing moments.”
All of the AALE pairs took personality tests during the training in Kansas to understand better how to work together. Schnacker and Kenneth Wilson already know each other well, and each brings different strengths to their team.
Even so, their time at the USA Games is going to be demanding and perhaps stressful.
Kenneth Wilson says his analytical working style focuses on data, while Schnacker’s is more focused on emotion.
When their two styles mix under pressure, he says, “It could be a catalyst to something amazing.”
All of the AALE pairs know they’ll need to be flexible. They’ve all been to competitions that got off to rough starts.
"If the first day is a little chaotic, we'll get it right and figure stuff out,” Sajna of Special Olympics Ohio says. “And it will be great."