The Heart of Jenks’ Special Olympics
By: Jes Cates
The audience cheers as the players receive their medals. Their parents’ and coaches’ faces are filled with pride and joy as they see their children and players awarded for their amazing work last year, and the new players are introduced to the team. Moments like this happen at the beginning of every year.
For around two decades, Jenks has had the Special Olympics team, uplifting people with intellectual disabilities that may be unable to join other sports. The Special Olympics plays over eight sports throughout the school year, such as basketball, flag football, soccer, horseshoes, bowling, swimming, track, and bocce ball. They also have summer games starting in May. The Torch sat down with their coaches, Head Coach Mark Duesler, Coach Melissa Housely, and Coach Amelia Stevens to discuss their backgrounds and to discover what drives them.
Even though most of them never planned on coaching this team, all of these coaches are very passionate about the Special Olympics and its members. They all have different reasons for staying and different things they look forward to in the year.
Duesler says that coaching the Special Olympics has made him more patient and less stressed about small things because this team is about having fun.
“I enjoy it. I love the kids and interacting with them and their families,” said Duesler. “I love to give them another outlet - something they can do.”
Stevens’ favorite moments are when a teammate gets a medal or a ribbon. She loves seeing how proud of themselves they are, but she also loves seeing their parents.
“It's like when you’re at a wedding, and you turn to see the bride walking in, but you also turn to see the groom's reaction. It's like that, but for the parents,” said Stevens. “Their pride in their kids. Maybe when they found out their baby had disabilities, they felt their life would always be an uphill battle, but to see them and their kids have these positive experiences is a blessing.”
Special Olympics team during timout of a basketball game. Credit: Special Olympics Head Coach Duesler.
Stevens sees the team giving both kids and parents something to look forward to: practice, games, dinners, fundraisers, and more. They get to have experiences like stressing about their performance in a game, celebrating their wins, and recovering from their losses.
“I mean, I don’t love to see them be nervous, but experiencing those anxieties and nerves with them - it's just normalizing,” said Stevens. “ I think the Special Olympics is about wanting to normalize people seen as abnormal. I don't like using the word ‘normal,’ I’m just using that because I think that's how other people see them.”
One thing that Stevens says the Special Olympics needs more of, besides the obvious funds and volunteers, is practicing on the field during the halftime of a Gen. Ed (General Education) game. This has only happened on a couple of occasions, during soccer halftimes. Still, it was a very positive experience, and she hopes for it to happen again, and more often.
Housley has been teaching Special Education Concepts (Self-Contained Severe and Profound Disabilities) for nine years. She earned her qualifications while working at a private school with few special needs resources.
“I was a Gen. Ed teacher for several years. The special needs teacher came up to me and asked me if I realized how many special needs kids I had in my classroom that I had never asked help for,” said Housely. “I said I was just doing my job, and she said ‘well you’re really good at doing that.’”
Even though it was difficult - balancing classes and her job with her two kids - she doesn’t regret it. She loves the class she teaches and the students in it.
“I just felt like this is where I belong,” said Housely. “It seems right.”
Stevens says that coaching the Special Olympics for three years has been a wonderful experience, given her background in sports and her personal experience of how competitive and exhausting it can be.
“I was worn the heck out,” said Stevens. “It just put a bad taste in my mouth, being active in sports and the anxiety it caused, but coaching the Special Olympics has been very healing. It’s just about having fun.”
Teammates and volunteers huddling up during basketball practice.
Housley, Stevens, and Duesler agree that Jenks is one of the most supportive districts for the Special Olympics. It budgets for the team yearly, plenty of other teams raise money for them, and the team has dinner with Coach Riggs and the football team every year.
Even though they have good enough funding, all of the coaches agree that the one thing they need more of is peer support. They’re always struggling for volunteers who actively check emails and participate in practices.
“We are always seeking good peers, that aren’t frightened or put off by any behaviors that they might have that are really dedicated to working for them,” said Housley. “Just being a part of it is so helpful. The more people that support the program, the better it’ll be.”
To volunteer for the Special Olympics, you can join Project Unify, run by Melissa Housley. They often help with the team. You can also enter Coach Duesler’s chain email to get in the loop of practice times.
You can email Coach Duesler here: mark.duesler@jenksps.org
And you can email Coach Housley here: melissa.housely@jenksps.org