Ten athletes attend a Night to Shine, hosted by Epic on February 12, 2016, in partnership with the Tim Tebow Foundation. Night to Shine is a prom for people with special needs, ages 16 and up.
Our athletes looked amazing as they entered the prom on a red carpet complete with welcoming friendly “paparazzi.” Once inside, our athletes received the VIP treatment including mini hair and makeup stations, shoe shining stations, corsages and boutonnieres, a karaoke room, and of course, dinner and dancing! The highlight of the night will come when every one of the Night to Shine guests is crowned as a king or queen of the prom.
Athletes in attendance: Teddy Angerman, Ian Aviso, Jackie Lutts, Heather Lutts, Stephen McGarry, Emmett Abdo, James Shelton, Stanley Dluzniewski, Kelly Dluzniewski, and Kristie Walls
Photo Credit – Jen Cleary
Photo Credit – JJ Tiziou
On Thursday, December 10th, Special Olympics Philadelphia held its 1st Elementary and Middle School Bocce Tournament. Twenty teams made up of over 100 students from Penrose, Austin Meehan Middle School, and Universal Daroff Charter participated in what was sure to be remembered event. The energy and excitement level rival a Friday night football game. Athletes and partners alike, cheered on each other as awards were handed out. Austin Meehan swept the top three spots in the middle school competition. Penrose took home first at the elementary level while Universal Daroff Charter rounded the medals out with silver and bronze. We are looking forward to next year’s competition already.
Huge thank you to Penrose Elementary School for hosting this historic event! Thank you to all of the coaches and principals from Penrose, Austin Meehan and Universal Daroff as well as the Philadelphia School District for your continued support and for helping make this dream a reality! An additional thank you to all of the volunteers who helped run this event!
On Friday, November 27th, three athletes along with their dates attended the 136th annual Philadelphia Charity Ball. Special Olympics PA has been the beneficiary of the ball for multiple years, and was the beneficiary again this year. Special Olympics athletes Ian Capacio and Ally Rutizer attended the Ball along with Interscholastic Unified Sports (IUS) athlete Brandon Velez-Roa who took IUS partner, Katlyn Geist as his date.
Brandon Velez-Roa, who is a student at Abraham Lincoln High School, received the Jimmy Award at the 2015 Philadelphia Charity Ball. The Jimmy Medal identifies and celebrates individuals who make a positive difference in the lives of others. Though their actions they exemplify the virtues of resiliency, humility, empathy and loyalty.
Brandon participates as an athlete in both Unified Bocce and Soccer with Special Olympics at his school. “Brandon is a fantastic athlete who loves competing and displays tremendous effort and attitude both on and off the field,” said his coach Michael Turchi. His peers and teachers would describe him as kind, friendly, coachable and very lovable young man. Brandon’s outgoing and optimistic demeanor have made him not only a great athlete, but also a wonderful friend and role model for all the students at Abraham Lincoln High School. He has participated with his fellow team and classmates in the Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign at Abraham Lincoln High School, which is a Special Olympics initiative that brings education and light to the word ‘retard’. Through the Spread the Word to End the Word Campaign, students pledge not to use the ‘R’ word and by making that pledge they promote respect and an inclusive climate for all students. Brandon truly embodies the four pillars of the Jimmy Award: Resiliency, Empathy, Humility and Loyalty and Coach Turchi along with Special Olympics Philadelphia are honored to nominate him to receive this accolade.
Check out the photos of the event by Bowden Photographics.
Villanova University’s campus turned into an underwater adventure land between Friday, November 6, 2015 and Sunday, November 8, 2015 for the annual Fall Festival. The theme was Dive in as Athletes, Emerge as Champions! Our athletes dove in and with hard work and determination and our Athletes Emerged as Champions. Our athletes dominated the field/court in Soccer (5v5, 7v7, and skills), Volleyball and Bocce! We even had an athlete help clinicians during Healthy Athletes!
Preliminary competition started Friday afternoon. Based on performance, our teams were placed in their division for Saturday’s competition. Based on Saturday’s performance, our teams were then scheduled for the medal rounds held on Sunday. Between competitions, our athletes enjoyed activities at Olympic Town and/or get screened at Healthy Athletes. Beyond competition, our athletes enjoyed a dynamic Opening Ceremony with guest speaker Villanova Men’s Basketball Coach, Jay Wright, who at Opening Ceremonies told all athletes that Villanova’s house was their house for the weekend. On Saturday evening, our athletes let loose on the dance floor at the Victory Dance! The weekend concluded with Closing Ceremonies where the committee premiered their recap video (shown below – can you spot our Philly athletes?!?!?) and wished all athletes safe travels home. We can’t wait for the 2016 Fall Festival!
Bocce
Pam Galone & Raymond Anderson, Traditional Team – 3rd Place
Kirstyn Cantres & Kevin Karcher, Traditional Team – 1st Place
Lenny Lutts Sr. & Lenny Lutts Jr., Unified Team – 1st Place
Stars & Stripes (5v5) – 1st Place
Emmett Abdo, Ronald Atkins, Lisa Barbour, Edwin Ian Capacio, Allison Davidson, Eddie Glover, Jackie Lutts, Kristie Walls, Michael Weinberg, David Brent Williams
Philly Phlash (7v7) – 3rd Place
Matthew Beckman, Ryan Bogan, Daniel Charlton, Matthew Grabowski, Carl Irvis, Angel Rodriguez, Jesse Rose, Joseph Rynkiewicz, Mitchel Stahl, Brian Stulz, Charles Zisette
Nick Uhniat- 1st Place
Kayla Atkins – 2nd Place
Marlene Johnson – 4th Place
Lafayette Charleston -4th Place
James Shelton – 3rd Place
via Villanova Television.
Fox 29 Weekend News, Lauren Dugan Covers the Pennsylvania Special Olympics
The 2015 Step Up Philly a climbing success! Yesterday, October 25th, Special Olympics Pennsylvania – Philadelphia held Step Up for Special Olympics, presented by PECO and challenged participants up 53 grueling flights of stairs at the BNY Mellon Center (1735 Market St.). Marc Zumoff, sportscaster for the Philadelphia 76ers on Comcast SportsNet, kicked off the event by welcoming participants and reminding them to take this challenge by the Athlete Oath of “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt” as they ascended the stairs.
The MultiClimb and CrossClimb challengers were up first. As the MultiClimbers started their first decent up the tower, the CrossClimb Challenge began on the ground floor with a CrossFit workout. To keep participants energy high, 102.9FM WMGK played their Classic Rock and CrossFit Delaware Valley coach, Jacki Ford yelled words of encouragement to our participants. Those participating in the MultiClimb took the 53 flight challenge to the max, by deciding not only to climb the tower once, but to climb all 53 flights as many times as they could in an hour. Our winner of the MultiClimb, Charles Bower, climbed the tower 5 times! That’s 265 flights of stairs or 5,095 steps up!
As the last set of CrossClimbers started to head up the tower, it was time for the StairClimb challenge to begin! Climbers lined up to take on the 1,019 stairs up to the 53rd floor where Temple Football players were waiting to congratulate them and hand out water. It was a race to the top and did we have some fast participants! Our first place male, Stephen Marsalese, finished in 6 minutes and 47 seconds with our first place female, Jacqueline Guscott, trailing a few minutes behind with a time of 9 minutes and 21 seconds. Special Olympics Pennsylvania – Philadelphia wants to thank everyone who came out and conquered the stairs and can’t wait until the 2016 Step Up for Special Olympics!
Overall Results:
Temple University Athletics: Members of the Temple football team took time on Sunday morning to assist with “Step Up for Special Olympics,” an event in Center City benefiting Special Olympics Pennsylvania.
The Unified Youth Summit starts school year on right track! Seven schools within the Philadelphia School District sent their youth leaders to attend our Unified Youth Summit as part of our Interscholastic Unified Sports (IUS) program. The day started off with Britt Kleine, Director of Special Olympics Philadelphia, welcoming all of the students, coaches and school staff. Jordan Schubert, Special Olympics Chester County athlete and Special Olympics Pennsylvania staff member, was the Keynote Speaker. Jordan shared his journey through high school and college and how Special Olympics and the Unified movement impacted his life. After an inspirational keynote address, it was time to educate our student leaders on how they too could start their Special Olympics journey like Jordan.
Our student leaders were excited to learn about the various components of the program (Unified Sports, Unified Youth Committee, and Whole School Engagement) and a new initiative Special Olympics Philadelphia is launching to help them with their Whole School Engagement – the Cool Schools Challenge as part of our inaugural Philadelphia Polar Plunge! After a brief presentation, students broke out by school to discuss how to engage students in their respective school, how to run meetings and decide on ideas to run with. After each breakout session, a representative from each school reported out to all of the student leaders.
The Summit ended with by our student leaders taking a pledge to be the agents of change within their schools and pledging to Plunge at the Cool Schools portion of the Philadelphia Plunge to show the public that they support for inclusion and respect. Before everyone left, we took a group picture and individual school pictures with the Philadelphia Polar Plunge mascot, whose name was announced earlier during the Summit! The students loved taking pictures with the newly named mascot, Chilladelphia!
Schools who attend the Unified Youth Summit include:
Special Olympics Project UNIFY is an education-based project, funded by the U.S. Department of Education that uses the sports and education programs of Special Olympics to activate young people across the U.S in order to promote school communities where all young people are agents of change – fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics believes that through sports young people can make a difference in friendships, schools and communities.
Project UNIFY initiatives include a host of core activities, both on the national and the grass-roots level. Local projects that meet Project UNIFY objectives are supported through a funding process for U.S. Special Olympics Programs.
Special Olympics Project UNIFY incorporates sports and related activities, however, in this new way of operating (youth-centered, school focused) there is an enhancement in current programs and paradigms from a focus on events to committing to a movement advocating for youth as change agents now and in the future. To learn more, click here.
On 
August 1st, before kickoff of the highly anticipated Philadelphia Union vs New York Red Bulls match at PPL Park, Myra Ausberry named Hometown Hero.
The Hometown Hero award recognize those men and women who have made a difference in the lives of others. These heroes are ordinary people that have had an extraordinary impact through their service, dedication, knowledge and spirit. The Philadelphia Union looks to salute those heroes who have inspired people to improve the lives of their cities, towns communities and neighbors . Traditional values of teamwork, effort, accountability, trust and selflessness are the cornerstones of Philadelphia Union’s Hometown Heroes.
Myra Ausberry has volunteered countless hours as a coach in a number of sports for Special Olympics Philadelphia to some of the most underserved athletes in some of the most underserved areas of the city. She ensures that those she engages with know about the opportunities available through Special Olympics but even more, she supports their on-boarding by providing resources and personal support to them wherever needed. The energy Myra brings to her role as a coach is contagious and it’s easy to see that the athletes and families enjoy being around her. Myra’s support and commitment to her teams every season has not gone unnoticed. She has personally helped athletes from competing on a local level to be able to compete on the national stage! Her passion for Special Olympics goes beyond the seven sports she is certified to coach in the community program. Myra is also an active supporter for the Unified Sports program and is particularly known for her current coaching position with the Martin Luther King High School Unified Soccer Team.
Congratulations, Myra! We are so lucky to have such a committed volunteer!
Hot off the press…Summer Games results are in! Special Olympics Philadelphia athletes have a lot to be proud of! Fifty-four (54) athletes from Philadelphia traveled to State College on June 6th to compete in basketball, athletics, swimming and bowling. The Special Olympics Pennsylvania Summer Games are held each year at Penn State University and feature more than 2,000 athletes and 750 coaches from across the Commonwealth competing in three days of intense competition. This is the largest competition of the year and athletes compete in aquatics, athletics, basketball, bowling, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, softball and tennis. This year’s Summer Games was a qualifying event for the Special Olympics USA Games, taking place June 14-21st, 2014.
Special Olympics Philadelphia athletes took home an impressive number of medals and awards: 61 gold medals, 20 silver medals, 13 bronze medals and 8 place ribbons. In addition to these achievements on the court, in the pool, on the track and at the lanes, Philadelphia athletes also took home lots of fond memories and new friendships! In addition to our athletes who did amazing, we want to extend a huge congratulations to the coaches who volunteer their time to help our athletes train for this event. Congratulations to all on a great event!
To view a complete listing of Philadelphia’s official results, please click here. For photos from Summer Games by Dane, click here.
On April Fools, our Philadelphia athletes weren’t fooling anyone as they rolled spares and strikes at the 2012 Eastern Bowling Sectional, a one-day competition featuring more than 300 athletes. Opening Ceremonies were held at Trexler Middle School and the competition venues were Mountainville Bowling Alley, Rose Bowl and Playdrome- all in Allentown. Athletes compete in various bowling events: singles, doubles, teams and unified. 31 of our Philadelphia athletes took to the lanes and gave it their all in hopes of advancing to the 2012 Summer Games at Penn State University in State College, PA.
1st Place |
Stephanie Cooper, William Devlin, Vincent Filograna, Pamela Galone, Raymond Jackson, Michael O’Donnell |
2nd Place |
Raymond Anderson, Theodore Angerman, Alberto Borrero, Kirstyn Cantres, Stephan Dacyna, Kevin Karcher, Salim Thomas |
3rd Place |
Mitchell Gaskins, John Kulpa, Richard Walston, Michael Weinberg |
4th Place |
Daniel Charlton, Keith Collins, William Strauser Jr, Edmund Zakrocki |
5th Place |
Matthew Kosman, Michael Mullen, Rachel Santiago, Angela Smith, |
6th Place |
William Borrero, Michael Esposito, Rosemary Furlong, Sheila Stevens, |
7th Place |
Russell Barndt, David Borrero, |
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