GOOCHLAND COUNTY, Va. -- Goochland coach Steve Rosen is proud of his growing team, hard at work preparing for this weekend’s Summer Games with Special Olympics Virginia.
More than 1,200 athletes and 2,000 volunteers from across the Commonwealth will take part in the Summer Games at the University of Richmond and other locations in the Greater Richmond region.
This is the third Summer Games held since the COVID-19 Pandemic, and growing many team’s numbers back to pre-covid levels has been a slow process for some smaller rural areas, like Goochland. Rosen stepped in two years ago to help Special Olympics after retirement.
“They are so tightly knit and I’m so glad we’re able to get it back,” Rosen says. “When we took the program over, we only had three athletes. My goal was to grow it.”
Now Rosen’s team has grown to nine athletes, training year-round in bocce ball, basketball and now track and field. The young athletes say nothing can stop them, including the heat and humidity they’ve been training in during the past few months.
“It’s easy as peasy,” says 15-year-old Dymontrie Hopkins, one of the team’s members.
Dymontrie and his cousin, Rachelle Hope, will be competing together in the Summer Games, but the two are more like siblings than cousins. Dymontrie’s mother passed away in 2018, leaving him in the care of his aunt.
“I’ve been doing Special Olympics for 20 years,” says Rachelle. “He’s been doing it for three years though.”
As a mentor, Rachelle is helping Dymontrie and her younger teammates strive to be their best. The team also gets help from student volunteers through Special Olympics’ Unified Champion Schools program, where student-athletes want to make a difference in the lives of those with special needs.
“When they’re out here, whether it’s basketball or kickball, they’re playing other schools and they have 400 or 500 students watching and cheering,” Rosen says. “It’s really fantastic.”
For Rosen, volunteering for Special Olympics has given him new a purpose in inspiring athletes of all ages to work hard, believe in themselves, and have fun while competing. His team says they are grateful for him.
“(He’s) a good coach to have us do the good things we need to do,” Dymontrie says. “We run fast enough and play hard and be a good team.”
A team ready for an incredible competition at the Summer Games, a reward for all their hard work during the year. Rosen says he encourages the community to come out and support Special Olympics.
“I tell them, get your grandparents, get your aunts, uncles, your cousins, and your next-door neighbors,” Rosen says. “Get everyone to come out and watch because they’ve earned it.”
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