Aaron Johnson – Sports Editor
The Southern Connecticut State University softball team volunteered with event operations at a Connecticut Special Olympics event held in East Haven this past Saturday. The volunteer work was a part of Southern student-athletes Tim Greer Insurance Agency Community Service Cup. Seniors Sarah Koerner and Nicole Buch both said the experience was a great way to help and give back to the community.
“We’ve been doing it for the past four years,” said Buch, the shortstop of the team. “And it’s a great community service event that we do. I personally want to work with kids after school so working with them gives me some kind of experience.”
The Special Olympics Connecticut provides year-round sports training and competitions for over 14,000 athletes (individuals with intellectual disabilities) and Unified Partners (individuals without intellectual disabilities who are the athletes’ teammates). It promotes a healthy lifestyle by offering free health screenings at events, and providing participants with the education and resources to gain self-esteem and develop life-changing athletic and social skills and a healthy lifestyle. Koerner said that helping out is good to be around the different people.
“It’s a good opportunity,” she said. “It’s a good way to give back to the community. I mean I know we’ve done it the past four years and every year we always come back and say we want to do it again.”
Koerner, the centerfielder on the team, said that the event also gives the girls a get time to interact with each other as teammates.
“Since it is our first community service of the year usually we do get to know each other a little bit better because we are paired up,” she said. “It’s kind of a way to get to know each other, but we kind of get to know each other before that usually. We start and open with a team meeting we introduce ourselves. Say hi, this is where I’m from, this is my major, whether I’m a senior or a junior.”
The Owls’ finished last season with a 19-18 record (9-12 NE-10). But a strong end to the season, winning eight straight games, looks to help propel the Owls into a good 2015 campaign. The team building that comes from an event like this helps to grow a rapport between teammates, especially new-comers.
“You find out what people want to do,” Koerner said. “Like the freshman will say ‘oh I want to do this but I don’t know’.”
Although this was only the first community service event for the softball team, they have four or five more planned for the rest of the year. Past volunteer work has seen them go to the soup kitchen and child psyche ward. Buch said that she is going to miss going doing the volunteer work with her teammates after this season is over.
“It’s not going to be the same because going with people on a team you know them or you get to know them better,” Buch said. “Before I came to Southern I did community service events and Special Olympics softball but it’s just not the same. It’s definitely different and I’m going to miss it.”
However, the four years volunteering has been good to the two seniors. Koerner said working with the special needs athletes and adults really gave her a new appreciation for the things that she is able to do.
“For us interacting with the special needs kids and adults kind of gives us an appreciation that we can play softball the way we can,” she said. “It’s really cool to see how hard they compete.”
Photo Credit: Barbara Bresnahan
