At Special Olympics Winter Games, NJ athletes bring competitive spirit to the slopes
VERNON — Before Reinod Rogers Jr. headed up to the National Winter Activity Center for Special Olympics New Jersey's Winter Games, he had a message for his friends on the Garfield High School track and field team and coach Paola Brown.
"I'm not letting them down. I will come home with a victory."
But Rogers wasn't sure he had come through in the 200-meter snowshoe on Tuesday morning. "We were so close. I thought it was a tie," he said, after Rogers used his track skills to lean at the line and edge out the competition.
It was Rogers' first time at Special Olympics. The 17-year-old only signed up for the track team at the end of the last school year.
"I felt impressed," said Rogers, a Garfield sophomore. "I can't believe this is happening."
500 athletes at SONJ Winter Games
About 400 athletes and Unified partners from around New Jersey participated Monday and Tuesday at Mountain Creek and the National Winter Activity Center in Vernon and Skylands Ice World in Stockholm, vying for medals in alpine and cross country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing and speed skating. Another 100 athletes are expected to compete in figure skating on Sunday at Codey Arena in West Orange.
Joseph Capoziello of Bayville earned his 21st and 22nd SONJ gold medals at the Winter Games, adding the 200- and 400-meter snowshoe to his haul. Capoziello moved up from Challenger League sports to Central Regional High School's Special Olympics team. At age 22, he now competes with alumni on the Soaring Eagles – but ran alongside the snow-covered course waving a gigantic gray cowbell to support his former teammates.
"He has always been a good athlete, but never truly had the opportunity to show it," said Capoziello's mom, Lisa Galizia, a kindergarten special-education teacher on Staten Island. "It has boosted his confidence and self-esteem. He appreciates being able to hang out with peers who are special and have differences. They don't see each other as different, and because of that it makes it much easier for them to get along."
More: Special Olympics Unified sports give athletes a stage. But is the program inclusive enough?
Warm winter, warm hearts
Veteran cross-country skier Samuel Pickett of Jamesburg got one chance this winter to practice on actual snow. After two days of storms in mid-January, there were still about 3 inches at Mercer County Park. But most of the time, his local team, Mercer JAC has been on grass. The same goes for Lexy Faria, who had been getting her bright pink snowshoes dirty practicing with the Rosie Runners, at Cloverdale Farm County Park in Barnegat.
"When it gets warmer, I walk a lot. That's where I get my training," said Faria, 26, a Lacey High School graduate who works at T.J. Maxx.
Faria, a veteran competitor, won gold in the 200-meter snowshoe on Tuesday.
Nearly every athlete on Sparta High School's team left the Special Olympics Winter Games wearing a gold medal.
Sparta has been part of SONJ since launching basketball and indoor rowing in 2017, but this was the school's first time at the Winter Games after receiving a grant to participate in the Winter4Kids youth program last season.
"They have so much pride in the competition, in what they're doing," said Jennifer Schock, a Sparta special-education teacher who leads the Unified program. "It's giving them a purpose, something they can compete at."
Special Olympics crosses the globe
Founded by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1968, Special Olympics was originally a day camp in her backyard for children with intellectual disabilities. It has grown into a global movement focusing on bringing people together through sports.
More than 6 million Special Olympics athletes compete in 36 sports across 172 countries. Special Olympics New Jersey, which has about 44,000 athletes and volunteers combined, celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018.
Jeff and Taylor Dickerson of Parsippany estimated they've volunteered at the Winter Games for at least nine years. They chaperone athletes, riding up on the chairlift and rooting for them as they ski down. Keith Wyker from Oxford made sure Taylor Dickerson, who described herself as "a personal cheerleader," came with him when he received his Super-G gold medal on Tuesday afternoon. And Todd Gensheimer, a longtime competitor from Budd Lake, posed for photos with Jeff Dickerson before heading home.
"It's been a tradition, a chance to spend time with my daughter, and a chance to reconnect with the whole group," said Jeff Dickerson, who also volunteered at the Summer Games decades ago. "It just warms your heart, you know?"
Jane Havsy is a storyteller for the Daily Record and DailyRecord.com, part of the USA TODAY Network. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis, subscribe today.
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This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Special Olympics New Jersey Winter Games 2024 heads to slopes
