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02/13/2019 07:30 AMTown Treasurer Laurie-Jean Hannon may have packed away her skis some time ago, but with her help Connecticut’s 2019 Special Olympic Winter Games will be a success.
She got started as a volunteer with Special Olympics Connecticut (SOCT) because a few of her family members were athletes. Now, she’s worked her way up to vice president of sports and local programs for the greater New Haven area.
“My history goes way back,” Laurie-Jean says. “It was when my twin cousins were participating for the first time back in 1971....Special Olympics literally started July of 1968 out in Chicago. Connecticut was really on the forefront, right at the beginning.”
She came on board as vice president 25 years ago, around the time the World Games came to the area.
In March, Laurie-Jean is traveling to the 2019 World Games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where athletes from 170 countries will participate. Connecticut is sending two athletes as part of a unified bocce team.
“I’m a sports manager from three basketball teams, two volleyball teams, and a table tennis team,” Laurie-Jean says.
She’ll be responsible for booking hotels and making sure the athletes manage to get from their host city, Dubai, to the games.
Until then, Laurie-Jean is busy with planning for the SOCT’s upcoming Winter Games. As soon as she gets back, it will be time to start preparing for the Summer Games.
The job comes with all the logistical hurdles as any major sporting competition, like dividing tournaments into divisions to sort the athletes into fair groupings.
“The other pieces of that are planning for meals, planning for overnight experiences, making sure we have the referees that we need, we have the officials that we need, we have the snow that we need,” she says.
When scouting for locations to hold events, Laurie-Jean says the group strives for a professional atmosphere. They’ll build two full-sized floor hockey rinks in the Pratt & Whitney Hangar in East Hartford and a gymnastics center in Plainville for that event.
“Because it is a true gymnastics center, we’re not moving equipment and our athletes are featured in a real facility where real competition takes place for that sport and they just shine. They absolutely love that,” Laurie-Jean says.
Despite the warmer weather, Laurie-Jean says their snow situation is under control with a team of Eversource volunteers working to make snow for their snowshoeing and cross country skiing competitions taking place out in Windsor.
“Our programs wouldn’t run without volunteers,” Laurie-Jean says.
She says their volunteer numbers are strong for the upcoming Winter Games, though they’re still looking for help in the food service department. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact the SOCT at 203-230-1201. Spectators are also welcome to attend.
The Winter Games will feature competitions in events from alpine skiing and speed skating to gymnastics and floor hockey.
For Laurie-Jean and the rest of the SOCT, this means coordinating with many specialized operating committees and compiling data to ensure all athletes compete with others who are alike in age and ability.
Athletes in the Special Olympics pick their events based on their interest, and SOCT provides training and instruction.
“A lot of our athletes have already done these sports before, but figure skating is a perfect example of where we had the opportunity...to bring in some new athletes,” she says. “They’re starting right from the ground up learning how...to be a figure skater.”
Training sessions for a whole manner of sports invite new athletes to join and learn the sport for the eight weeks leading up to the games.
“We’re always looking for other coaches, people with the knowledge in a particular sport, who might want to be involved with us,” Laurie-Jean says.
Recently, the SOCT has added new sports to their events roster. In March, it’ll host a MBA basketball eSports video-gaming tournament, where participants will sit in a stadium and play a basketball video game competitively, in honor of March Madness.
“I’m a little nervous because it’s the first time, but I’m excited too,” she says.
They’re also adding ballroom dancing, following states like Indiana that pioneered the program.
“When there’s an interest out there, we’ll try to see what we can do,” Laurie-Jean says.
Part of the beauty of Special Olympics, Laurie-Jean says, is the opportunities it provides people with intellectual disabilities.
In particular, she says the unified sports program in schools which partners students with and without such disabilities can help to reduce bullying and improve integration.
“They have so much to offer us,” she says “They have more abilities than you can ever possibly imagine.”
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