For the second consecutive year, the Special Olympics Oregon (SOOR) Summer State Games descended upon Newberg over the weekend and, based on this year’s experience, the event could become a celebrated local tradition before too long. Helped by good weather and increased participation on just about every front, the event was nothing but a success.

The volunteer spirit
The Newberg School District didn’t just open its doors and facilities for Special Olympics, but with staff, faculty, students, recent graduates, administrators, parents, coaches and booster club members assisting all over campus and at the three other venues on Saturday and Sunday, the NHS community wholeheartedly embraced the volunteer spirit of Special Olympics.

The local effort appears to be a big reason for the increase from 1,200 volunteers a year ago to nearly 2,000, although volunteer director LouAnne Tabada hadn’t calculated a final total by press time.

The outpouring of support also came about organically, as the school didn’t actively recruit people to come out and help, according to Blue School principal Dan Malone.

“Special Olympics seems to be an organization that understands how to cultivate volunteers and to start early enough,” said assistant softball coach Steve Richards, who managed the two softball fields at the high school over the weekend. “Within the high school community, it just seemed kind of natural.”

Malone pointed out exceptional efforts on the part of NHS athletic director Tim Burke, who has volunteered on the Games Committee since September, as well as Ed Ames and the janitorial staff, calculating they contributed more than 100 hours of their time to set up, maintain and close down the facilities.

He even noted that the construction crew working on the track and turf field renovations made sure to clean the track and leave the area safe for use after finishing working on Thursday and Friday.

“I’m just really happy people chose to take time out of their schedules and do that,” Malone said. “Some of the students were actually volunteering for senior projects, but Tyler Gilmore was at the finish line with his mom, who teaches first grade, all day.”

Smoother in year two
In their second year in Newberg, the Summer State Games came off especially smooth, as both the Special Olympics staff and the local volunteers learned from last year’s experience.

That was true for the athletes and coaches, too.

“It’s seemed to work really well,” Gilmore said. “I didn’t catch any glitches or anything like that. In fact, I think we were a half hour ahead of schedule.”

Although the field events had to be moved to nearby Mountain View Middle School and getting athletes to the starting line on the track proved to be tricky, the construction didn’t prove to be much of a problem. In fact, the track events on Saturday finished about 30 minutes ahead of schedule.

“With the construction, Newberg High School and the city of Newberg were phenomenal,” SOOR coordinator Ryan Avery said. “They helped out so much and were so pivotal to what we were able to accomplish this weekend. It was a smooth transition.”

Sunny skies and big smiles
The warm and mostly clear weather also proved to be a factor in the revitalized atmosphere at the games this summer after rain canceled many events on the final day last year.

For instance, everyone at the NHS softball complex last year had to cram into a single tent for the awards ceremony, but with the all events getting completed, the feeling was nothing but positive this year at the closing ceremonies on Sunday.

“It was this unexplainable passion and joy and excitement for everyone,” Avery said. “The whole day, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., it was just cheers and cheers. It’s awesome and really amazing.”

And while coaches and competitors didn’t have to worry about staying warm or competing on wet surfaces, the conditions brought with them a whole other set of issues.

“We have to worry about overheating, which we had happen with a couple of our athletes at districts,” said Eugene-Springfield softball coach John Coleman. “The nice thing is they’ve provided a little more shade this year. Everyone seems a little more relaxed.”

Coca Cola provided bottled water for the entire event, and along with volunteers from local churches and the Knights of Columbus, water was available in abundance at all venues. On that track, the “Water Brigade” met each competitor at the finish line with a cup of water.

By the numbers
In addition to the increased number of fans and volunteers, the Summer Games experienced a boost in participation, as well.
Including coaches and team volunteers, there were 2,045 delegates this year despite the fact that the gymnastics competition was not held.

The number of competitors jump by more than 250 from 1,291 to 1,543 this year, which included 223 athletes without intellectual disabilities that volunteered to compete alongside Special Olympics athletes in unified-partner events.

Broken down by event, there were 573 track and field athletes, 370 bocce players, 219 golfers and 158 in softball.

A permanent home?
Appreciation for the efforts the Newberg community gave were perhaps most evident at the closing ceremonies, where each of the 30 local programs across the state were read out alphabetically, with the final team getting the loudest ovation.

“When they announced Yamhill, there was just a shockwave of cheers,” Avery said. “Everyone almost got chills at how amazing it was.”
Avery said the first two years of the four-year commitment to host the games in Newberg already have organizers looking to make the change more permanent.

“Newberg feels like home for us for Summer State Games,” Avery said. “We hope they’re there for years and years to come.”

And because the track and field renovations will be long completed, next year’s event has the potential to be even better.

“It’s going to be an amazing field,” Avery said. “Newberg High School has done a great job. We’ll bring out more fans next year and get more people involved in Special Olympics and show them what we bring to the community, as well as what they do for us.”

Thousands enjoy pasta dinner
After a day of playing sports under the sun, few things can sate one’s appetite as well as pasta. Nearly 2,000 athletes took advantage of the free meal provided by Special Olympics Oregon Saturday evening.

Once again, Frank Slyter took the helm of the project. “It’s going very well, we’re real pleased,” he said about midway through the serving Saturday. He had set up 10 serving stations where volunteers filled Styrofoam boxes with chicken pasta Florentine, a tossed salad with bacon and cheese, a Jell-O salad and bread. Dessert was Good Humor bars.

Slyter, who has experience in food service, said that the menu was created around items he was able to have donated to the event, keeping in mind that they were expecting to serve 2,200 people. “This time it’s a little more labor-intensive, because of the pasta,” Slyter said, comparing the meal to last year’s hamburgers. On Friday night, volunteers boiled 250 pounds of pasta al dente, then packed the noodles in Zip Lock bags so that Saturday they could be warmed up in a few minutes.

Although Slyter started preparing for the event in February, he didn’t have a final count until last week, as athletes had to qualify for the games. About one-third of the volunteers were returnees from last year, Slyter once again brought much of his extended family to help, and he said that he saw many of last year’s volunteers helping at other events.

Larry Hill was volunteering as a food runner for the second year, besides training on the Yamhill County golf team. His partner was scheduled for surgery this week and couldn’t attend the regional tournament, so the pair couldn’t golf during the state games, but they enjoyed golfing every Wednesday this spring, rain or shine. “We got to golf every week with the team and it still didn’t help my game a bit,” Hill said, adding that he doesn’t always keep score.

Reheating pasta next to the kitchen tent was Gloria Carter, who was throwing 10-pound batches of precooked noodles in the pots more than 90 minutes after the dinner started. Located near the corner of Deborah Road and Douglas Avenue, she had a front row seat for the arrival of the Olympic torch. “To see the torch come right behind us, that was nice,” she said.

NDPD completes torch run
Once again, officers from the Newberg-Dundee Police Department escorted the Special Olympic torch on the last leg of its 400-mile trip around the state. After starting in Dundee shortly before 5 p.m., they arrived at Newberg High School about 40 minutes later with about two dozen officers taking part in the run.

NDPD Sgt. Gwen Johns, who organized the run, also managed to add some glitz to it, as all 13 of the motorcycle officers who were in town for the games led the runners into the NHS stadium with their emergency lights on. Once again, as soon as diners caught sight of the officers making their way up Deborah Road, a tidal wave headed for the fence to cheer them on, while athletes, coaches and spectators who were mingling in the shade of the stands gave them an ovation as they burst onto the track.

“The first couple miles we had a small, intimate group,” Johns said, but several other runners joined the pack. She was once again heartened by the competitive spirit of the Special Olympics athletes who took part in the run. “We kind of had to rein back a couple of the athletes,” she said, as they were setting a race pace, with the intent of crossing the finish line first rather than arriving in formation.

The runners weren’t the only cops volunteering for the event, as more than 60 deputies and municipal officers could be seen, some from places as far away as Goldbeach. The Yamhill County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Posse and a very large contingent from the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office also attended.

“A lot of us have been doing it for a long time,” MCSO Sgt. Phil Anderchuk said, referring to it as “feeding our soul.” He added, “It’s an honor to come back year after year after year.”

“Sgt. Anderchuk, he recruited all of us,” Deputy Angela McCafferty said. She added, “Once you do it, you’re hooked for life.”

Anderchuk said that new deputies are exposed to many volunteer opportunities through colleagues, coaches and supervisors. He added that the appeal of Special Olympics is the managers’ lack of ego and that “the focus is on the athletes.”

“This is the best venue yet,” he said of Newberg.

Stands nearly full for ceremonies
Chard Carter of KOIN 6 TV, who has been involved as a volunteer with Special Olympics for years, made a return appearance this year as the games ceremonies master of ceremonies. Athletes filed onto the track by team as Carter called each team into the area roped off for the evening’s dance. Carter noted that they would be partying on gravel tonight, but “we’re going to be back next year and we’re going to have a fantastic new facility to enjoy,” he said, to cheers.

Organizers had wanted to bring in at least 1,000 spectators to fill the bleachers and they seemed to have hit the mark and then some, as all four middle sections of the 1,925 capacity bleachers were at near capacity with some overflow in the remaining two sections.

“So many (athletes) were saying, ‘they were here this year,’ and they would high-five,” Special Olympics Oregon spokesman Ryan Avery said. “So many people went up to the fans in (the) stands and the fans actually came down to the dance and danced with the athletes. It was really an awesome community awareness and community event all wrapped up in one.”

Officials from Special Olympics Oregon made a point of thanking Ken and Joan Austin, as the philanthropic Newberg couple were instrumental in bringing the summer games back after a two-year hiatus caused by funding challenges.

Ken Austin, who spoke briefly, reminded the crowd that last year he had labeled Newberg “Smile City, U.SA.,” and that he still felt the same way after seeing the athletes Saturday. “I think this beats the heck (out) of what’s going to happen in London,” he added, referencing the 2012 Summer Olympics.

After the officials had spoken, volunteers proclaimed an oath followed by the athletes, who in unison repeated: “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

The Power Pep Band, from Portland, provided entertainment throughout the evening. Bill Lock, a trumpet player in the band of 40 to 50 members (about two dozen played Saturday), said the semi-professional outfit would start with “Midnight Hour” and play some Smash Mouth and Bill Balley. “Anything loud,” he said of the music the band plays.

By: Laurent Bonczijk Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic