When athletes test their bodies and wills at Northern Santa Barbara County Special Olympics’ area games at Vandenberg Air Force Base in April, the base will provide its own volunteers to make sure the track and field events run smoothly.
When competitors need help with drills at their weekly basketball practice, or tips on strategy for bocce, or a trip to the local aquatic center, they’ll turn to other volunteers—as long as some community members have stepped up to help.
“It’s the type of thing we’re always looking for,” Brian Zepeda, sports coordinator for Northern Santa Barbara County Special Olympics, said of local volunteers.
While the group is set when it comes to head coaches for the various sports it offers, it still needs assistant coaches and chaperones. Volunteers can help the athletes stretch before their practice, Zepeda said, or drive a van to and from out-of-town tournaments. Basically, players need to get ready for their games, and head coaches tend to focus on, well, coaching. They could use help in getting their teams prepared to shine.
Interested volunteers should contact Zepeda, who has a volunteer form for them to fill out. They’ll get
an orientation about the program and learn what’s expected. Then, assuming everything’s approved, they’ll take to their respective courts, pools, fields, tracks, and diamonds.
Northern Santa Barbara County Special Olympics offers sports activities for athletes from Lompoc to Santa Maria. Zepeda said there are more than 300 participants listed in the group’s database, though only about 125 to 150 show up on a regular basis.
Currently, the organization is wrapping up its winter season with a Southern California floor hockey tournament that starts on Jan. 17. Two teams—one from Santa Maria, one from Lompoc—will be competing against about 30 others in San Diego.
Then, in late February or early March—after “a little time off,” Zepeda said—six different sports will kick off for the spring season.
“That’s our biggest one,” Zepeda said.
Local athletes can sign up for heart-pumping events like track and field, tennis, basketball, or swimming. They can perfect their swing with golf, or train their coordination and skill for bocce.
Those half-dozen sports may seem like par for the course for Special Olympics—and they technically are—but they’re also a positive sign in this economic climate. Zepeda explained that there’s been a financial downturn statewide, but the group hasn’t had to cut anything because of the fiscal crunch.
The Special Olympics fundraises throughout the year—with events like tip-a-cop dinners and the annual Bull Canyon Run—and there’s enough money in the group’s coffers to allow it to continue to offer the same number of practices and tournaments for 2009.
That means the schedule is a full one for the rest of the year. August marks a softball tournament, and the regional games are set for October. Going full circle, floor hockey will take the rink, as it were, at the Santa Maria Fairpark next January.
And they’re all events Special Olympics will need help with, Zepeda said.
He added that despite the groups’ solid footing when it comes to offering a full range of sports, donations are still as welcome as volunteers. Just give him a call.
Executive Editor Ryan Miller prefers floor hockey to ice hockey. Contact him at rmiller@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 8-15, 2009.