Guest TigerBlog: Greg Paczkowski's Special Olympics Report

TigerBlog was working at the flag football awards ceremonies yesterday for Special Olympics USA 2014 at the Lawrenceville School. 

The procedure was fairly standard. The teams would come across the stage at Lawrenceville's Kirby Theater, and each player's name would be announced as the medal was presented by one of the four New Jersey state troopers who participated or, for a few of the teams, by Cleveland Browns' cornerback Joe Haden. Then the athletes would be given bouquets of flowers and the teams would pose for pictures before the next team came out.

There were the standard reactions of athletes who receive medals. Mostly there were smiles, high-fives, hugs among teammates, handshakes for everyone and anyone they saw as they as they left the stage.

Then there was Anthony Deaton, from the unified team from Oklahoma. 

When Deaton - a tall, slender man probably in his late 20s to 30 - received his medal from the state trooper, he broke down in tears. He sobbed uncontrollably, thanking her profusely. He looked at his medal - a bronze - and cried again. 

It was a moment of pure, unfiltered joy. It was genuine emotion, and it was impossible to see it without becoming emotional as well, especially from TigerBlog's distance of about five feet away. 

For TB, it'll be one of the lasting images he takes from his time this week at Special Olympics, in a week that has been filled with lasting images. TB is also not alone among the volunteers to have this kind of experience. 

Greg Paczkowski - whose official title at at Princeton is Assistant Director of Athletics for Facilities and Aquatics but who really does a ton of everything - helped along with Karen Malec to plan and oversee the portions of the Games that have been held at Princeton. He asked TB earlier this week if he could write something about his own experience, and TB wasn't surprised to see that it mirrored his own.

Greg Paczkowski's thoughts:
 
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It is lunchtime on a Wednesday afternoon in DeNunzio Pool.  Normally the building would be nearly silent, where all you could hear is the sound of the water as it overflows into the gutters.  Today was different. A near deafening roar of applause from a capacity crowd fills the building as a young swimmer hits the touchpad to finish his 100-freestyle.  The other 7 swimmers who finished in front of him cheer for him as well and congratulate him on his last place finish. As the young man looks up at the scoreboard he screams in excitement “THAT’S MY BEST TIME!” As he gets out of the pool he puts his hands over his head and the crowd goes nuts again. Timers, officials, lifeguards, and other staff high five and congratulate him as he walks by with the biggest smile you have ever seen on his face.  You can’t help but get a little misty eyed when you witness this first hand. This is Special Olympics. 

About four years ago I sat in a meeting in D-Level conference room where the idea of bringing the swimming and track and field events of the 2014 USA Games to Princeton was discussed. None of us had any idea what to expect and it all seemed so far away. As time went on we had regular meetings to discuss the logistics on how an event of this magnitude with 3,500 athletes and 10,000 volunteers across 11 venues throughout Mercer County would run. We discussed the challenges of holding a large track meet and swim meet simultaneously during the normal Princeton workday as it related to parking, security, concessions, and janitorial coverage. This was truly a University wide undertaking composed of representatives from about ten different departments across campus.   

There was one thing that was left out of those meetings that caught me by complete surprise, and that was how much of an inspiration these athletes and their families truly were going to be. I have worked many different events at Princeton over the years and have never been part of an event like this. Of course an event such as the Doug Davis buzzer beater win over Harvard was one of the greatest Princeton events that I witnessed, half of the crowd still left the building upset. Special Olympics is different.

I figured this out very quickly on Monday morning as the song “Happy” played over the PA system in DeNunzio before the start of the session and the entire place spontaneously stood up and danced, including the roughly 100 volunteers that were on the pool deck awaiting the start of the event. Special Olympics is an event where athletes from all 50 states traveled to New Jersey to celebrate and compete WITH each other as opposed to against each other.  

The 2014 USA Games rely almost exclusively on an army’s worth of volunteers in order to make this event a success. Some of these volunteers and coaches from across the country have a personal interest in these events, such as having a child who is competing in the games. I had the chance to get to talk to some of these volunteers and the one reoccurring theme was how much Special Olympics has changed their child by allowing them to meet new people as well as engage in some healthy competition. Special Olympics gave these individuals the opportunity to do something that many people take for granted. 

Many of the other volunteers were not as close to the situation. I watched as these volunteers started to arrive on campus early in the morning still half asleep and not exactly sure what they were walking into. As they started to interact with the athletes they were very quickly transformed, just like I was. They engaged, encouraged, cheered for, and of course, high fived the athletes as they finished their races. All of the volunteers that I spoke with mentioned how this was an experience that they will never forget. 

This event has truly changed my life. I am in awe by how unbelievably positive the athletes and their families are, even with all of the adversity they had to overcome in their lives. This positive attitude enveloped everyone who came into DeNunzio Pool and Weaver Stadium, from the staff that works here every day to the volunteers who were experiencing this for the first time. It is truly inspiring and makes me wish that more people had the opportunity to experience this first hand. It puts life into perspective and makes you realize that it's not worth getting angry over trivial things and that a positive attitude is contagious. 

As Special Olympics comes to a close I really hope that all of the athletes and their families had a wonderful experience in New Jersey and at Princeton. I hope that this was an experience that they will never forget….I know that I won’t. 

Flag Day At Special Olympics USA 2014

TigerBlog used to cover Lawrenceville Prep football when he was in the newspaper business. It was one of his favorite teams to cover.

The coach back then was a man named Vit Piscuskas. TigerBlog remembers him as being a pretty funny man who was a good coach and who appreciated the coverage. TB also remembers reading about Piscuskas when he passed away and being saddened by the news.

Lawrenceville didn't play any local teams. Its entire schedule was made up of similar prep schools spread throughout the Northeast, and TB remembers driving to see a big game between the Big Red and Choate one year.

He also remembers the year Lawrenceville went co-ed, back in 1987, when TB covered Lawrenceville against its biggest rival, Hill. One of the Lawrenceville fans held up a sign that said "Women at Lawrenceville? What's next? Men at Hill?" Now that was funny. And the kind of sophisticated humor that you'd expect from Lawrenceville.

The football field at Lawrenceville was a great place to see a game, set back near a stream on a campus that screams "Ivy League" way more than it does "high school."

TigerBlog hadn't been on that field in 25 years or so - until yesterday, that is, when his week with Special Olympics took him back to Lawrenceville, this time for flag football.

There were four fields set up for the sport, which made its debut at the USA Games four years ago in Nebraska as a demonstration sport. This time, it was a full-fledged sport and a highly competitive one at that, with teams from all over the country.

TigerBlog was stationed on Field 1, which was the main football field at Lawrenceville, now named Keuffel Field, after Ken Keuffel, who coached single-wing football at the prep school decades after learning it from Dick Colman at Princeton.

The flag football games were played on a field 40 yards long and 25 yards wide. Teams had four downs to get to midfield and then four more to get into the end zone. The quarterback couldn't run, and no running plays were permitted within five yards of midfield or the goal line. There were no kickoffs, punts, field goals or extra points. After a touchdown, teams could go for one by putting the ball on the five-yard line or two by putting it on the 10.

The first game of the day matched Texas and Massachusetts. Football, as you might have heard, is big in Texas, even on the Special Olympics level. Oh, and Texas was the only team with its own cheerleaders. And the coaches, some of the fans and some of the cheerleaders wore Cowboy hats.

Not surprisingly, Texas beat Massachusetts 27-6

Rhode Island then knocked off Indiana 42-26 after basically scoring on every possession. The final touchdown came on a pass to the center (all players are eligible receivers), a woman named Audra Leroux. TB asked her if it was her first touchdown, and she replied it was her fifth in two days.

A little later on, it was Louisiana 20, South Carolina 6, in a game that was witnessed by a fairly nice sized crowd that included Cleveland Browns all-pro cornerback Joe Haden and the Giants very likeable punter Steve Weatherford. Louisiana led 18-0 at the half when a young man named Camrin Sandoz came in to play quarterback.

To TigerBlog, Special Olympics is all about people like Camrin Sandoz.

The flag football games that TB saw were all unified games, meaning that they paired Special Olympic athletes and partners who are there to facilitate play. Camrin was one of the Special Olympic athletes on the Louisiana team.

Camrin stood in the pocket looking to throw on his first attempt, even as the rush came straight at him. Eventually he threw a short pass that was intercepted.

The same thing happened on his second attempt.

A little later, Camrin took a pair of handoffs and gained a few yards. Then, in the game's final minute, he threw his third pass, a completion for a short gain.

This is what's it's about. The teams want to win, and that's a huge part of it. But it's not the whole part. No, not even close.

It's also about making sure that the Special Olympic athletes are given every chance to be successful. It's not handed to them, but they are put in position to be successful. Think Camrin was fired up? He threw a completion, ran the ball twice - and his team won.

Oh, and these games are also about fun. Lots of fun.

Like the Texas team, who danced when the game ended. Or the Louisiana and South Carolina teams, who took it to a whole different level.

First they danced together at the half, spontaneously, after a few South Carolina players went out dance to the halftime music that was playing over the PA system. Then the rest of the South Carolina players went out. Then a few of the Louisiana players. Then the rest of them. Eventually they were in  a line, all of them, dancing, falling down, laughing, high-fiving each other, regardless of which team they were on.

The flag football competition concludes today with the final games, including the gold medal game. The desire to win is serious.

That's not all that's going on here.

TigerBlog sees some of the Special Olympics athletes and thinks about how easy it would be for them to be forgotten by society, even by their families possibly. While the rest of society goes about its business, not really considering the great good fortune of not having the mental and physical issues that these athletes do, the competitors that TB has seen all week at these Games are forced to deal every day with those issues.

And you know who gets a lot of the credit for what TB has seen? It's the coaches who teach them and work with them. They were on the sidelines, with the same kind of laminated play sheets that you see in college and NFL football. Only the Xs and Os on these pages take a little longer to figure these plays out, and it takes a special person with special patience to be able to handle it.

And it's about the family members who are there, cheering all the way, like the parents that TB sees at his kids' games.

Mostly, it's about the athletes. The ones with a great spirit and love for the games they're playing.

For them, the opportunity to compete is priceless. It's about playing a sport, trying to excel, trying to improve, trying to win.

It's also about self-worth and purpose and taking a dignified place in society.

It's beautiful to see up close.

A Special Day Of Basketball

TigerBlog assumes that he has the same reaction as most people when they first meet Lucas Erickson.

He noticed the hair.

Lucas Erickson has a lot of hair. He wears it in an Afro. When he walked onto the court at Rider's Alumni Gym wearing his green Oregon jersey, Erickson was in full 1970s mode, with the Afro and a red, white and blue head band.

Erickson is a few weeks away from having all that hair go away, TB supposes at least. Why? Because Erickson, a recent high school graduate, has enlisted in the United States Navy. 

For now, the hair is easy to notice.

It's also easy to notice that Erickson gets it, gets why he was on the court at Rider yesterday, on Day 1 of the basketball competition for the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games. TigerBlog couldn't help but notice that either.

Erickson was competing in the unified division of basketball, as opposed to the traditional. In the traditional division - whose games were being played at The College of New Jersey and the Hun School as the Games have taken over Mercer County this week, including competition at Princeton - teams have five Special Olympics athletes on the court at the same time. In the unified division, teams have three Special Olympics athletes and two "partners" on the court.

The partners, of which Erickson was one, are there to facilitate the play, not to dominate it. There is actually an anti-domination rule, one in which the refs stop the game when they see it, even if it's not clearly defined as to what exactly dominating is.

It didn't matter yesterday. None of the partners on any of the teams in any of the games that TigerBlog saw overdid it.

It's not easy for the partners, TigerBlog figures. Should they shoot ever? Dribble fast up the court? Steal the ball from the athletes?

It was clear from the start that Erickson was fully invested in what was going on and what his role was as Oregon defeated South Carolina 23-7. Oregon and South Carolina, by the way, were two of the four teams that Princeton defeated to win the 1975 NIT.

This wasn't about that, even if Erickson's hair would have fit right in back then. TB isn't sure he ever took a shot, but he did do what partners are supposed to do. He kept the ball moving. He set up the athletes. And, more than anything else, he played with a spirit that took over the whole gym.

This was a day for playing with spirit.

It started in the first game, when Louisiana beat Maryland 33-24. Maryland's Nick Krohn, one of the athletes, knocked down a shot and then fist-bumped everyone on the Louisiana bench. It wasn't the only time that fist-bumping broke out among competitors, and even the refs got involved.

TigerBlog was there in the role of public address announcer, and he worked at the scorer's table with about six or seven others. Several times athletes would come by and fist-bump (interestingly, there was little high-fiving) with all of the people working.

Erickson had never been to the Northeast before he flew to New Jersey Saturday. The word he used to describe this part of the country is "big."

The best game of the day was Arizona vs. New Jersey, as the visitors from the West came back and beat the home team by two. Washington, DC, had a nice win over Washington in another close game. TigerBlog thinks Louisiana was the best team he saw.

The Oregon team is the youngest in the field, made up of high school-age players. Erickson got involved with Special Olympics through his mother, who worked in Special Ed at his high school.

And through another family that was close with his own. The Knight family.

Erickson described Dony Knight as his "brother," even if they aren't actually related. And there they were yesterday, after the game, in a hug, Dony the athlete and Lucas the partner.

It was the kind of hug teammates often have after a nice win to start a tournament. It wasn't a wild celebration. It was just a recognition that Game 1 had gone well and was in the bank.

Dony had knocked down a basket in the game. Maybe more than one.

So did Alex Hoppe. Alex in this case is a female, as the teams in this division could be co-ed, though not all were. Alex appreciated, among other things, that TigerBlog pronounced her name correctly - "Hoppy."

Special Olympics is about spirit, and the triumph of that spirit. It's also about competing.

The athletes have wildly different levels of athletic ability - and general physical coordination. They all loved being out there yesterday, playing on a Division I basketball court, "like playing at a real college," as one player said.

The event going on in Mercer County is a massive effort, one that had to require ridiculous amounts of planning and coordination. And thousands of volunteers. Rider was jammed with them yesterday, all there at 6:30 a.m., none of them making a penny.

Princeton Athletics is well-represented. The volleyball matches are being played next door to basketball at Rider, and TigerBlog saw Princeton's two head coaches - Sabrina King and Sam Shweisky - as well as Mary Beth Dittrich from campus rec and Carolyn Cooper from the Princeton Varsity Club, all before 6:30.

TigerBlog volunteered to see it up close himself. He has plenty of time this week left to continue to do so, with events continuing throughout the county. In addition to basketball, TigerBlog will be at flag football at Lawrenceville Prep.

Mostly what he saw yesterday was joy. On the part of the athletes. The coaches. The partners. The volunteers.

It was real joy, legitimate joy, at being part of what was going on.

TigerBlog couldn't help but think of what it took for the athletes to reach this point, what they had to go through physically and mentally to get there. And what it was like for their families.

After he left Rider, TigerBlog took Miss TigerBlog to her Monday night field hockey league. This was a league of middle school athletes, not that much younger than Alex Hoppe.

It would be too trite for TB to say that he would no longer take for granted the ease with which MTB and her teammates can play sports and that what TB saw all day at Rider puts other sports - like Princeton's or his own children's - into a different perspective. That wasn't really the case anyway.

It was more a feeling that TB had about sports in general.

People play them for a lot of reasons, but No. 1 has to be because they love to play. Whoever it is. Whatever is at stake.

If the athletes don't love to play, what's the point? A scholarship? A big pro contract? Those don't happen for most athletes, and the ones who do get to the point could never get there if they didn't love it.

And for the overwhelming numbers of others who play? It's because it's what they want to be doing.

And that's what yesterday was all about. On the surface, the juxtaposition between the middle school field hockey girls and the Special Olympics basketball athletes might seem glaring, but it really wasn't.

It was just athletes doing what they loved doing.

That's the whole point.

So go watch the Special Olympics if you're in the neighborhood. You'll be glad you did.