VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS FROM A RECENT PRACTICE

SWARTHMORE, Pa. -  For a group of Swarthmore College student-athletes, Tuesday evenings have become an important campus and community engagement activity. Members of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) have hosted the Delaware County Special Olympics Track & Field team in the Lamb-Miller Field House each week for practices throughout the 2013-14 school year.
 
The practices include warm-up stretching and laps around Lamb-Miller Field House followed by working on throwing, jumping and running skills; at peak times there were as many as 40 Delaware County Special Olympic athletes in attendance. During the practices, our student-athletes provide mentorship and encouragement to the participants (and even enjoyed a few competitive races around the field house!). The partnership is designed to improve the lives of Special Olympics athletes through their involvement with Division III student-athletes and to foster a mutual learning experience between Division III student-athletes and Special Olympics athletes.

SAAC representatives Melissa O'Connor (softball), Lizzie Kolln (lacrosse) and Julia Murphy (soccer) have been active in recruiting Swarthmore students and student-athletes to volunteer each week and have coordinated weekly activities along with special programs. In addition to more than half of the athletic teams at Swarthmore volunteering throughout the year, other groups on campus reached out to assist, including the McCabe Society. 



"This experience has been extremely beneficial to me throughout my time at Swarthmore," says O'Connor. "In the three years I've been volunteering, it's something that I look forward to every week. Even if I'm overwhelmed and stressed out with schoolwork, Tuesday from 7-8 is a time that is blocked out on my calendar." Many of the other student-athletes that volunteered this year shared similar sentiments. 
  In addition to the weekly practices, many other events were coordinated this school  year to benefit Delaware County Special Olympics. In honor of Division III Week and in partnership with Special Olympics, our student-athletes awarded Certificates of Excellence to all of the athletes in early April. In an effort to further celebrate the athletes of Special Olympics and participants of Delaware County Track & Field, Swarthmore SAAC took pledges for an end-of-the-season awards ceremony with presentation of customized t-shirts and sport bags. Additionally, the men's basketball team took donations and pledges at Swarthmore's Fun Fair in early May to buy new softballs and a shot put for future practices. 
 
"Until you go out and volunteer, you can't imagine how much of an impact you can make. Just spending an hour a week with these inspirational athletes can produce friendships that you'll have for life," says O'Connor. 

About Special Olympics & NCAA Division III
The NCAA Division III Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and Special Olympics announced their partnership at the 2011 NCAA Convention. It officially launched on August 1, 2011. In the first year of the partnership, 39 NCAA Division III conferences and 101 institutions reported a Special Olympics activity. Of these reported activities approximately 6,800 student-athletes and 9,800 Special Olympics athletes took part and over $118,000 was raised for local Special Olympics chapters. Special Olympics is an international organization that unleashes the human spirit through the transformative power and joy of sports everyday around the world. Through work in sports, health education and community building, Special Olympics is addressing inactivity, injustice, intolerance and social isolation by encouraging and empowering people with intellectual disabilities which leads to a more welcoming and inclusive society.