Nov. 19, 2015 Villanova, Pa. -
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The Villanova community hosted the 27th annual Special Olympics Fall Festival for the State of Pennsylvania beginning Friday November 6th and ending Sunday November 8th. This event is organized entirely by a student-run committee, who work year-round to plan the weekend from opening to closing ceremonies and everything that happens in between.
"Each year, Special Olympics Fall Festival is a marquee service opportunity that our student-athletes look forward to participating in," stated Allison Venella, Director of Student-Athlete Development for Villanova Athletics. "The student-athletes do a tremendous job of sharing their time with the over 1,000 Special Olympics athletes who come to campus to compete in the sports they love."
Opening Ceremonies gives student-athletes the opportunity to connect with the participants right away, with over 100 student-athletes walking in the parade with each of the Pennsylvania counties. This year during the opening ceremonies, head men's basketball coach Jay Wright was a keynote speaker, and he addressed the participants, coaches, and volunteers to help kick-off the weekend's festivities.
Venella went on to say, "Coach Wright said it best at the 2015 Opening Ceremonies when he enthusiastically told the Special Olympics Athletes that the Pavilion and all our other on-campus sports venues were "THERE HOUSE" for the weekend."
The participating Fall Festival athletes compete in six Olympic-type sports: bocce, long distance running, powerlifting, roller skating, soccer, and volleyball.
Of the 4,000 volunteers, nearly 500 of them are Villanova student-athletes. The Villanova athletics teams volunteered throughout the Fall Festival weekend, some participated in Opening Ceremonies, others cheered on at the sporting events, the football team spent time in the Olympic Town, sharing time with the athletes during their Sunday morning and many were at award ceremonies to congratulate the athletes for all they had accomplished during the weekend.
Senior baseball player Manny Morris, who is on the Special Olympics volleyball committee, shared "being a part of the Special Olympics Committee and being a student-athlete as well has brought a lot of opportunities to understand both sides of the story."
Morris, who been the on Fall Festival committee for three years, opened up about what it means to be a part of such a great event. "The way in which campus essentially shuts down and everyone directs their efforts to Fall Fest is so special."
"I remember my first year on committee, I was blown away with how everyone within the Villanova community as well as outside of our community take time to volunteer for a weekend," Morris added. "Fall Fest is all that and then some for the athletes and their families thanks to all the volunteers. Without them we don't have the ability to do all the fun things that we are able to do to make the experience of Fall Fest one that the athletes will remember forever. I think all of that is a testament to all the love and the care that the Villanova Community shares not just within but for their neighbors as well."
"From a student-athletes perspective it just rubs off on the Villanova community because our [Fall Festival] athletes know that student-athletes get involved in it too," student festival director Bobby Reiff said.
Max Beermann, another senior on the Villanova baseball team wrote a feature story that was featured in the Villanovan, the Villanova student run newspaper, about the unique bond between student-athletes and the athletes who participate in Special Olympics.
In Beermann's feature he describes the bond that is instantly formed between the student-athletes and the athletes competing at Fall Festival and he believe it is because "student-athletes understand the time commitment to perfecting a sport. It takes a toll on a person. We understand winning and losing, failure and success, but it is when we have the support from others that drives us to better."
Morris further explains, "personally, as a student athlete there is a lot of responsibility of giving your time and talents back to the community, so something like Special Olympics is extremely important, because we correlate very similarly in the fact that we are both athletes and both competing. So the way the athletes who come in for Fall Fest over the weekend interact with the student-athlete community is pretty powerful to see. It gives you the insight of how important it is for us to give back when we can."
