Members of the Stillwater Ponies football team volunteered at the 2012 Minnesota Special Olympics. The games were held June at Stillwater Area High school June 20-23. More than 1,300 Special Olympics athletes from across Minnesota participated in the games.

Ponies football players in grades 10-12 served as the Power Team at the event. In all, our players and parents served 498 hours at the Special Olympics event and another 20 hours planning.  While our team was paid a stipend, we took on this challenge to give back to Special Olympians and our community.

A special thank you goes to committee chairs Patti Olson and Jane Peterson who were our link to Special Olympics staff.  We filled 92 volunteer slots with eight parents and 84 football players. We had a 90% participation of the entire junior and senior class from the team.  Most of the other 10% had work conflicts, family commitments, or vacations. 

Each player signed up for a five or six hour shift.  They checked in at the high school and were paired with another teammate, a walkie-talkie, and a golf cart.  We sent five teams of two out every shift.  Two shifts covered the track and field, two shifts covered Olympic Town, and one shift was a floater.  They took instructions from AJ Menden, a Special Olympics representative with much experience. AJ would walkie-talkie instructions to certain teams and the boys would complete the task.

The teams worked very well together, covering each other’s back and responsibilities in a respectful, pleasant manner. The tasks varied from garbage detail, filling water containers, bringing bottled water to events, setting up the soccer and football expo, distributing ice, distributing lunches, moving tables and chairs, and in the heat of the work day, taking the time to cheer on Special Olympics athletes.

We also hosted a football clinic for Special Olympic athletes. A group of 14 boys hosted this two hour event. These young men worked nicely with the athletes and tailored the clinic to what the Special Olympic athletes requested – passing, catching, hand-offs, and the gauntlet (running through the team with blocking dummies in hand). A ton of smiles and laughter was shared by all.

This was the first year that Stillwater hosted the Special Olympics and the first year of organizing our part. According to Patti and Jane, it went better than they could have ever imagined. They were grateful for a special group of young men showed up for extra shifts and stayed late at others. “I was proud to be a parent on this football team,” Patti said. “These young men stepped up to the plate and did not let Stillwater down. AJ Menden said this was the best group of young adults he has worked with in a long time. He wants them back again next year!”

The event was more than a warm-up for our annual Adaptive Football Day in October in which our varsity team plays football with special needs athletes for our area.