Within the first minute of volunteering for Special Olympics last week, I was immediately reminded why I was there in the first place.
As I was registering Friday morning outside of the Bryce Jordan Center, I said my last name out loud. That triggered the memory of Tommy Songer, who was helping people through the registration process.
I had never met Songer, but he knew my name. More specifically, he knew my brother, Mark.
Songer met my brother more than a decade ago, when Mark was volunteering for The Second Mile. Twice a week, Mark helped with youngsters at a downtown workout facility, and Songer said my brother was one of the best volunteers he’d ever worked with. I sent my brother a text message letting him know this, and he remembered Songer. The two met more than a decade ago, haven’t seen each other in years, but still recalled working with one another.
The two made a connection, which is really what volunteering is all about for me.
Mark also volunteered with Special Olympics in college, which is what motivated me to get involved after moving home. That’s what made meeting Songer so serendipitous. I’m planning to volunteer every year that I’m still living in State College, and hopefully I’ll get to know Songer a little better.
For the volunteering gig, I kept score for four basketball games at the IM building Friday morning and announced the lineups for two softball games the following day.
The basketball games were played on the same IM court on which my brother and I played “horse” a few months ago; I won but he racked up style points with a half-court shot.
I’ve written previously about how special Rec Hall is to me, and the IM building is in the same category. The Special Olympics athletes played hoops on the same courts where I spent years playing pickup basketball, and near where I played plenty of racquetball and ran plenty of laps on the track.
The softball games took place on the fields north of Beaver Stadium, traditionally used for intramural sports and tailgating. One of the teams had a catcher whose arm had been amputated, but he didn’t allow that to be a hindrance. Batting left-handed, he whacked a couple hits through the right side of the infield and routinely threw the ball back to the pitcher, cupping the ball in his glove and tossing it back.
Once, when a pitch rolled a few feet away, the umpire began to throw back an extra ball to the pitcher, but the catcher insisted he could retrieve the original ball and throw it back. And he did.
Each athlete has his or her own story — how they’re overcoming their own challenges and dealing with setbacks while also celebrating their accomplishments. To me, that’s what makes Special Olympics the premier summer event in State College, more than Arts Fest and the Fourth of July fireworks.
Perhaps more than anything, Special Olympics nabs the top spot because it helps make Penn State more inclusive. When you grow up a few minutes away from the campus like I did, sometimes you just assume anybody can attend the university, but for a variety of reasons, that’s not true. I always knew this, but when I moved away to Indiana for four years, I experienced an expansive college campus in a new way and gained a fresh perspective.
As I was announcing the softball games, I occasionally peered behind me, where Jeffrey Field and Beaver Stadium glistened under the sun on the other side of Park Avenue.
The students and student-athletes who attend Penn State will return in a few short months, and the intramural fields and top-shelf athletic venues will once again play host to plenty of sports action.
It’ll be fun, exciting and will bring together the community. Just like Special Olympics.
