Several swimmers including junior Keeley Shields and sophomores Adelyn Temple and Santana Gonzalez, are members of the swim team and also coach for Special Olympics, a national organization that provides athletic competitions and training for kids and adults who have special needs.
“Some of [the athletes] don’t need as much training as some of the others do, and some of them are really good swimmers,” Gonzalez said. “Some have more personal training with a real goal in mind. And then others are just in there to get in the water and have something fun to do for a night out.”
Gonzalez, alongside Shields and Temple, say they love working with the participants of Special Olympics and teaching them how to improve as swimmers.
“My favorite part is probably seeing how much fun the athletes have showing up to practice, and how much they can improve within the weeks,” Temple said.
Another aspect of the training process the girls look forward to are the many friendships they make.
“We ask them questions about their day, which usually makes them excited because it makes connections,” Temple said. “Sometimes we’ll take breaks and play games, or we’ll let the other athletes kick in the water together, which they really like.”
The girls have developed techniques for helping train the participants.
“I give them the option to have fins or something to give them a chance to go faster in the water,” Shields said. “We do fun kick sets and stuff so it’s not a continuous ‘do this and this’ over and over.”
These practices are rewarding for both the swimmers and their trainees. Swim team members start their day at 6 a.m. for a morning practice, finish their afternoon practice at 5 p.m. on a Monday or Wednesday night, then go to coach the Special Olympics at 7 p.m. for another hour. But they say it’s worth it.
“For me, after I’ve had a hard practice, I honestly enjoy getting to see them and catch up, because they’re not just the people that I coach, they’re my friends,” Shields said. “I’ve made bonds with them and friendships, and I genuinely just enjoy getting to see them at the end of the day and just get to have a minute to chill out and just talk with them.”
The effort the girls put into training the athletes has been rewarding not only for the athletes, but for the three of them as well.
“I think that some people, when they hear about the Special Olympics, they just automatically assume that it’s going to be a tougher job than some people may think,” Gonzalez said. “But in reality, it’s just super fun getting to know all the people and being able to communicate with them.”
