Special Olympics Virginia announce top awards at Fall Championships

Special Olympics Virginia announced its annual awards at the 2003 Fall Championships Opening Ceremony last Saturday night (November 1st) at Ocean Lakes High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Sam Corprew was named SOVA’s Athlete of the Year at the 2003 Fall Championships Opening Ceremony. The Virginia Beach athlete has been involved with Special Olympics Virginia for over 20 years, during which he has experimented with almost every sport offered. Although almost everyone in the SOVA community knows that he excels in soccer, basketball, and track and field, he has also trained in swimming, ice skating, bowling, and volleyball. Sam is the consummate athlete. His fellow athletes take many cues from Sam including attitude, commitment, style and skills. While at practice, Sam has taken on the responsibility of leading warm-ups. He does exercises that suit the needs of our highest functioning athletes as well as our lower-functioning ones. When there is a half court basketball coach absent, he comes to practice early to take over those coaching tasks. He has also been part of an athlete panel that was held by SOVA to discuss unified sports in Area 2.

Ginny Theisen was named SOVA’s Virginia H. Foster Winning Spirit Award winner. She has been a long time volunteer in Area 26, where she founded the Special Olympics program at Fairfax High School and helped start the program at the Davis Career Center, a vocational school in Fairfax County. She has met the requirements to be a certified Special Olympics coach in swimming, basketball and soccer and organizes and coaches a year round Special Olympics aquatics training program involving nearly 30 athletes. This past summer Ginny did an outstanding job as an assistant coach for the 2003 Virginia World Games team that traveled to Ireland. She is a great volunteer and enthusiastic fan of her daughter who competes in the Northern Virginia program. Ginny truly embodies the Special Olympics Spirit.

Jim Brinkman was named 2003 Coach of the Year. Jim is a key component of the successes of the local Special Olympics program. For over 15 years, he has been serving as a swim coach for the Area 2 swim program which consists of athletes from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. Outside of his time away from home due to his Navy commitment, he has been a dedicated coach on Sunday mornings from January to June for those many years. During those years, he has always served as a top notch coach in our program. He encourages his swimmers to challenge their perception of themselves and to reach their absolute personal best, both in the pool and life. If the swimmer provides the effort, Coach Jim provides the environment for success.

Lloyd Raupp of Charlottesville was named Outstanding Volunteer (Area). Raupp is the current Area 3 Coordinator, a job he has done for over 10 years. Lloyd has done an excellent job as Area Coordinator while simultaneously serving as Area Chair, tennis coach, and fund raising coordinator for several important events in Area 3. Lloyd was instrumental in the development of the Northwest Basketball Regional Tournament and he has also provided his services as a Trip Coordinator for numerous events. Lloyd has greatly increased the volunteer ranks establishing relationships with many University of Virginia athletic teams and student volunteer groups.

Garrie Denson (Mechanicsville) was named Outstanding Chapter Volunteer. Garrie is a “jack-of-all-trades” who is able to troubleshoot problems and who works tirelessly throughout the events. As the Equipment Chair for both the Alpine Skiing Championships and the Summer Games for over ten years, Garrie is responsible for coordinating all equipment requirements for the events, moving equipment to its required location, troubleshooting problems throughout the event and returning all equipment at the conclusion of the event. Both the Alpine Skiing Championships and the Summer Games have enormous equipment needs and Garrie’s expertise and dedication to his position are critical to the success of the events. There are a lot of people who can move equipment, but not many people who want to volunteer their time to move heavy equipment throughout a two-day event.

The Anderson Family (Prince William) was named the SOVA Outstanding Family. Royce, Peggy and Chris Anderson have been a part of the Prince William Special Olympics family for over 19 years and have grown to be an integral part of the overall program. Chris has been a Special Olympics athlete participating in many sports including basketball, track and field, bowling, tennis, softball, floor hockey, swimming and soccer. Chris has also coached basketball and softball. Chris assists the PWC Police as an athlete representative and spokesperson at events. Peggy Anderson is a member of the Prince William Special Olympics Council. Peggy organizes dances, dinners and social activities for the athletes on a regular basis. She has also coached several sports including basketball, softball, floor hockey, and track and field. Royce Anderson has been a basketball coach and assistant coach. During the past 10 years he has also volunteered as field manager for the annual Softball Tournament. He has been the announcer at two of the recent North Section Bowling Tournaments. The Anderson Family exemplifies families committed to the Special Olympics movement.