Special Olympics Connecticut on iHeartCommunities

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I Heart Communities. Thank you somuch for listening. I'm Renee Danino,

(00:03):
and today and next week you're infor a real treat. We're going to
call it our Special Olympics Connecticut dominationof iHeartRadio. We have some very special
people here from Special Olympics Connecticut.Well, you know, having thought about
it now, I should have soldtickets. It could have been a fundraiser

(00:25):
in this room. You know whatnext time around. But in any event,
I am Renee Dinino, so honoredto be here and have my friends
and family here from Special Olympics Connecticut. And we're going to be speaking with
Mike Mason, who is their president, and CEO, Matt Netchi who is
their board chair, and athlete HectorSanchez. But first I want to get
to our president, mister Mason,Thank you so much for being here.

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This crew is incredible and I'm justhappy to have you here in our studio.
Well, I'm thrilled to be herewith you. Renee, Thank you
so much, and I think thatwe're going to get everybody to give a
round of applause to Renee. Reneewas inducted into our Law Enforcement Torch were
on Hall of Fame. And soamongst the thousands and thousands of critical volunteers

(01:08):
that help us year round, Reneestood out as the person best deserving of
that award this year. And Ithink that was the first time we've ever
surprised her with anything. Right nowmight be the second. Yes, Mike
Cheek, Sarah turning red. Ihaven't even found the right way to say
thank you, because I truly wantto say on a personal note that Special
Olympics Connecticut has been a part ofmy life since nineteen ninety three, the

(01:30):
Connecticut Law Enforcement torch run. Idon't even know how many years and years
and news and years, and itis an honor to serve not only Special
Olympics, but our law enforcement.I am very humbled by you all,
and I will find the right wordsto say thank you. I'm just still
I'm still overwhelmed. No, welldeserved. Absolutely, thank you, sir,
thank you, Thank you very much, Mike. And you know,

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let's get back to Special Olympics Connecticut. I want to hear well. I
want you to remind people about thehistory of Special here in Connecticut and how
it's evolved. There's a lot totalk about. So our state was one
of the original states in the movement. So since nineteen sixty eight, we
sent athletes to the first ever WorldGames at Soldier Field. Obviously Missus Shriver

(02:14):
was there, and some great sponsorsthat continue to be with us today,
like Coca Cola and the Knights ofColumbus, and we are so fortunate to
have been at the cutting edge ofthat program here in the state of Connecticut.
And we're very proud of that.Her son, Tim Shriver, who
was a resident of Connecticut many yearsago, was the chairman of our board.

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It's Special Olympics Connecticut at that timeand went on to run the World
Games. And we were very fortunateto be chosen to be the host of
the nineteen ninety five World Games hereat Connecticut, right in New Haven.
I remember that well in New Haven, but all across the state. Oh
that's true. That's very true.And people to this day can still be
involved, Like you're always looking forvolunteers, always athletes, sponsors, every

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thing across the board. What aresome of the things that you are hopeful
for as we head through twenty twentyfour, Well, our focus in twenty
four and over the next three yearsis really to grow our base of athletes
to get back to serving more peoplethan we served before COVID came. We're
looking to grow our volunteer base.People don't realize that what it takes to

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run the kind of events we do. We have less than thirty people on
our staff, and across the statewe have thousands of volunteers like you that
come out and do all kinds ofthings for us. Whether it's coming to
what just happened our Winter Games andthey're there to hand out lunches and to
be guides and to give out awardsand to run the awards, or if
it's people to do fundraising, likethank you to you and all the crazy

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folks that come out to help usat the super Plunge that we do at
the Westport Elks in November, wherepeople plunge every hour on the hour into
the freezing water of Long Island Soundto raise the kind of money we need
to run the programs that we doyear round with our athletes leads, and
it seems every year the fundraisers getinnovative. We have you know, the
coin drops, we have the penguinplunges. We have the tip of cops,

(04:05):
the cops on top you know,and then people and schools and kids
getting involved. And I know we'regoing to talk more about getting our schools
and kids and programs involved in justthe next little while. But you know,
you really can't have this structure andhave the success that you have without
an internal support system. And thatis with with your board, which is

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an important reason why, Matt,that you're here today. Talk about maybe
Mike, I'll finish up with youand you can lead nicely into Matt,
how important is that connection with yourboard and what they mean to what you're
able to do well. They're criticallyimportant to us. They are our lead
volunteers. So our board come fromall kinds of backgrounds and Connecticut corporations,

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from education, from law, fromall different disciplines, and they lend very
freely to us their time to helpus with all those things. It would
cost us tens of thousand of dollarsto do the kind of things that they
do for us and help us withas well as they're out of events,
so in Winter Games we have boardmembers putting together lunches and handing them out

(05:10):
to people, giving out awards,thanking all of the volunteers from a lot
of corporate sponsors that are out therehelping them make the events happen critically important
and Matt has truly been a leader. So he's board chair. He's been
on our board nine years. Thisis his or actually ten years. We
extend it one year so that hecould have a full two year term as
president. So he's in his secondyear and he's just been a tremendous partner

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to me. He came on whenhe was the vice chair when I came
on as the president and CEO afterworking at Special Olympics for twenty two years.
And Matt's family has a great historywith Special Olympics. It's part of
his DNA, he likes to say. And he is a super plunger.
I saw it with my own eyes, Matt. Thank you so much for

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how about round of applause for ourboard chairs. Look look at your okay,
Matt, and that smile that tellsme everything I need to know as
to why you are committed to SpecialOlympics Connecticut. But you know, let
our audience in on it a littlebit if you wouldn't mind. Sure,
I mean, I want to startby obviously we have a lot of great

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athletes here today right. They aresome of the most hardworking, energetic,
competitive, diverse group of people youcould ever want to be around, so
I feel very fortunate to be workingwith them. We couldn't do what we
do without our board, which isvery engaged with the community. I'm thankful
to be surrounded by a really talentedgroup of people. As Mike said,

(06:36):
from all walks of life. Ithink Mike probably short changes himself a little
bit. We had a great CEObefore with Bodherti who retired and Mike transitioned
in Mike's team now and the fullstaff at Special Olympics. I've been around
a lot of organizations, professional,nonprofit. I've never been around a better
group of people than our staff,So I feel very blessed to be in

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this role right now. Now,As Mike was saying, this has been
a decades long involvement for me.My family began volunteering with Special Olympics.
It was our family activity when Iwas about three years old. So now
almost forty years later, to behelping lead the organizations pretty surreal. I
will be a volunteer for the restof my life, but I'm a little

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sad to be, you know,in my last year as board chair.
Well, there could be another vote, that's right, Michael. We have
another meeting about that later. Butno, it's been honestly, it's been
the privilege of my life, youknow. And I've over the years,
obviously, I've seen you at multipleevents and you, you and your board
members and Mike to your point,they put their money where their mouth is.

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I mean, they get out andget involved. And I have to
say, show me up a littlebit, because for as long as I've
known you, I will not begoing over any edges for you. I
love you guys so much, andthey've yes, I love you all with
my whole heart, but that Iwill give you a check for that.
But plunging and over the edge allthe things you do, and you know
you brought up Bojordi. You can'ttalk about special Olympics in Connecticut without bringing

(08:03):
him up. And you know,Mike, when you when you took the
slot of president, you really youhave been alongside Bow for all of those
years, learning and creating, andso it seemed very seamless and natural to
have you there. Everyone already lovesyou, everyone knows you and your family
and your hearts are committed to soyou know, I guess maybe since we're

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we have I never have a guestaudience. I want more rounds of applause.
But but Mike, you know,I mean no easy feat to take
over that slot. But you've doneit effortlessly and you've done an incredible job.
Matt. You've even said at theteam that is together now is second
to none. So kudos to you, no, thank you, thank you.

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And working with Bo was you know, a great mentor and really selfless
person. Uh, very much.The model of servant leadership. Special Olympics
is very much a blue collar,grassroots organization and if you're going to be
part of it, you have tobe willing to just hop in and help
out and do whatever needs to bedone. And that's the culture we have

(09:07):
with our staff and with our board. Sooct dot org to get for more
information about Special Olympics Connecticut. That'ssoct dot org. You can get a
listing of events. There's things goingon all year long, all different levels,
and a need all your long volunteers, athletes, coaches, venues,
donations, things like that. Buthere's the thing too, the athletes are

(09:28):
what makes Special Olympics Connecticut home tome, and once you do one event,
it is an addiction, a proudand happy addiction, which is why
we're all in this room right yourterm two president here. You know your
family has been a part of it. You know, Mike, this is
your twenty five plus years at thispoint doing what you're doing. Tell me
about Hector Sanchez and what he meansto this organization, and Hector, I

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can't wait to hear from you.Okay, Well, I'm excited to have
Hector here with me. Hector isan athlete in our Hartford program and he's
just an amazing young person. Heselfless as a teammate, and he has
a million dollar smile, and Ijust it's hard to not be in a
great mood when you're with Hector orwith any of the athletes who are with

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today. Like you said, whenyou're at an event, it's really it's
life changing for someone that's never beenaround it. You know, I grew
up with a family member, soI've been doing Special Olympics for fifty years.
But for people that come new,I think they're shocked at the kind
of spirit that's there. And it'sit's a family. You said, the
special Olympics family, and Hector's agreat example of that. So Hector,

(10:37):
I like you to just talk abouthow long you've been involved it's Special Olympics,
Hartford, in the sports that youdo with us. I've been in
specially for more than nine years.I started Special Olympics I was in middle
school and speciallymp and chased my lifeand it made a lot different. Well

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respecting and what's your sport? Mybest sport is soccer and basketball. Oh
boy, I love basketball and soccer. What's do you have a favorite between
the two or both the same?No, it's both. It's my favorite.
It's like to be honest, isboth is my favorite? And you

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have a special story that Mike wastelling me about about you put intowards what
Special Olympics means to you. Doyou want to share a little bit of
that with us here today? OneI was when COVID started, I was
like meeting my friends, like likeJeremy may Ryroll, he was always calling

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me, hanging out in his house. Or if I didn't have a Special
Olympic I would be like alone,not doing anything. It's what was no
COVID, it will it will notbe a Special Olympics. It's too hart
explain what was no COVID it wasCOVID was COVID it will be I will

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be alone? It was it wasno COVID. I mean it was I'm
sorry. You're doing You're fine.Oh my gosh, you guys give him
a round of what you're doing great? Sure, listen, Hector, you're
doing fantastic. So I think whatyou're trying to say or tell me,
you said during So if there wasduring COVID special doing Covidi be alone,

(12:33):
it was was no COVID. Likewhen it was no COVID, it will
be more enjoying. People be enjoyingand be more freedom and we could have
fun. That was trying to makesense. Yeah, I'm like nervous.
That's why you don't have to benervous here. And I do want to
point out in this interview that Hectorwas a smart man. He came in
and brought me flowers. So andI know it's from everybody, but thank

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you for those flowers. Hector,Thank you very much. Thank you for
talking to because I know you weren'texpecting to jump on the microphone here,
but I think you did a greatjob. Thank you and Mike, we
are going to talk to some moreathletes, global messenger athletes, And I

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should have said that right. Soyou're a global messenger. What does that
mean to be a global messenger athlete? Special like that? And you are
very special, special to us,all of us. Here we are speaking
with Special Olympics Connecticut. It isour two week domination of iHeartRadio airwaves and
I'm here with Mike Mason, theirpresident and CEO, and their board chair

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Matt Netchi and Hector. You're goingto have to give up that hot seat
because we're going to move in somemore athletes because Mike, we're going to
talk about unified sports now and whatthat means. And I understand Nick Sella,
who is also a global messenger athlete, is going to come on over
here and sit in that hot seat. So Nick, you come on and
sit down. And Mike, whydon't you get us started on and what

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unified sports is and how all schoolsin Connecticut can be involved. So unified
sports is where we have people withintellectual disabilities competing as equals on teams with
their unified partners, and so theseteammates they come together and it's about forging
friendships about respect, understanding, andthat begins. We have a young Athletes

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program. We begin in preschool withtwo and a half to eight year old
children, and then we continue onwith grammar school and middle school unified sports
programs and then into the high schoolsin Connecticut. And then the one thing
that we really want to communicate tothe public is that unified sports goes on
year round in communities all across Connecticut. Sixty eight local programs offering unified sports

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year round so that people that arein the schools can be a part of
it in their community. So ifthey're not competing in school, they could
be part of it during the summerwith their community based programs, or if
their school is it offering a sportthat they don't care for. For instance,
during winter basketball is the big sportfor people in the schools. They
can go do outdoor skiing, snowshoeing, cross country skiing, skating with their

(15:09):
community based programs, or if theylove basketball, they could do unified basketball
in the fall with their community basedprogram which is our season, and then
do it again in the winter withtheir school. So it's a great opportunity.
I think Nick has a great storybecause he's been part of both sides
of that and has successfully made thattransition back and forth between schools and community.

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We have athletes that are well latein their seventies still doing unified sports
with us. So unified sports trulyis for life, and Matt, I
know you and your board members areout at all of these events as well,
so to see unified sports really takeon a life of its own has
to be something you're excited about.Yeah. I think one of the things
we're always trying to do as aboard is make sure our athletes are taken

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care of twelve months, three hundredsixty five days a year. Very often
when people hear Special Olympics, theythink about our Winter Games, our summer
Games. I'm not sure they knowthe full breadth of all the things we
do, including unified sports. Again, it's been special for me this week
I was at a unified tournament withmy kids are now partner athletes. We've

(16:18):
gotten to see this broad range ofathletes who have limited disabilities and then some
that have a little greater but havingthem come together and we're promoting inclusion and
diversity and equity. It's a reallyspecial thing all right, well asoct dot
org you get more information about thatin all of the events and now dundun
it up. Please welcome Nick SellerYaya Hi, thank you, thank you

(16:42):
so much for having me tell meabout your experience about unified sports and also
what do you play well for specialwell for sports wise, I just I
love like a whole variety of sportsfor special ompics. So whether if it
was soccer or basketball or if wehave like a volleyball, I just love
being involved with like all people withall disabilities and all kinds and just makes

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me feel like part of like afamily. And for for experience too,
like you said, yeah, I'vedone a special Olympics when I was like
eight years old. It's around twothousand and six. So I was in
a very first group with with allwith my friends from who I grew up
with them in Rocky Hill. Solike if it was like Dylan Serpa or

(17:30):
Danny Baganatti or Andrew Sorentino or ScottBroness and all. Now since we have
all grown, we've we have comelike a long way of being part of
a great group of people. Sowould you say that you've developed lifelong friendships
yeah, just being being with thesepeople are great people. It just makes

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them feel appreciated and just makes themfeel like just makes them feel like they're
not alone. And if they justif they need like someone like to look
up to, or or if theyneed like a kind of like a motivator
or like a good friend to talkto you, they could just talk.
They could just like I could justgive them some great advice like, hey,

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you know what, you could dothis and I know this is this
is gonna be. You're going todo great at this sport. So they
just they can't be they can't bealone during they can't be a one.
If they feel like they're not goodat something, well that makes me feel
better because I'm not very good atsports, so I could play too then,
right right, Okay, thank youvery much. You're welcome. You

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know, I used to play basketballwhen I was younger, and I've told
this story on the year before.Do you want to know what my nickname
was? What was it wrong?Way Renee. That's a true story.
We'll go into it off air.Okay, I'll tell you the whole story
later. Nick. Thank you foryour story. Thank you very much.
All right now, I yeah,let's hear it up for him, and

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I'll go back to Mike now forstschools to get involved, because I know
we're going to have global messenger athleteMatt Glad come now, sit in your
hot seat, Nick, but whilewe're changing the seats and you guys can
go ahead and do that, Mike, tell me or tell a school that's
listening right now if say they're notinvolved, because I know you've got quite
a lot of participation, but maybesomeone's listening and they're wondering about how to

(19:21):
get involved. How do they dothat? If they just reach out to
us sooct dot org, like you'resaying, there's a place there for unified
sports, and we will connect themwith our unified Sports team and get them
involved certainly at any level, grammarschools, elementary, middle how whatever they
turn them in their school systems,they're all can be part of it.
We're trying to grow back. Wewere over three hundred schools in Connecticut.

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We're probably around two fifty two fiftyfive right now. And the real emphasis
for us is not only to getwe were in ninety eight percent of the
public high schools. We're really lookingto get into to get into people's lives
at a younger age so that theydon't ever know isolations. I hear these
heartbreaking stories of students that realized theywere different, maybe in third, fourth,

(20:10):
fifth grade, didn't want to dosports because they didn't feel like they
could compete in it. And thenthey then they found unified sports, not
until they got to high school,and that's sad. We got to get
them involved in grammar school, inpreschool where kids you come out to one
of our young athletes events. They'reamazing. You see these two five year
old kids holding hands and saying,we could do this together. There is

(20:32):
no difference there. Everybody's on thesame playing field. Soct dot org for
more information about unified sports. Myfriend Matt lad is sitting in the hot
suit. Yeah, Matt, Matt, you know I love you, but
you know you're nuts. You've goneover the edge, you go in the
water, you do it all andyou play sports. So tell me about
yourself and everything you do. Ilash, Yeah, I played track and

(20:56):
field and and softball for West Hawfordand you did unify sports right, Yes?
Does that make a difference in yourlife? Do you like being a
part of it? Yes? Andand as I did bowlin with Boomfield,

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and also I was the assistant coachfor the West Harford ski team. What
kind of advice do you give toyour teammates as a coach, Like if
someone needs encouraging, Like as acoach, make pretend you're coaching right now

(21:37):
and tell me what you say toget people all positive and ready to go.
I would say, if you cando it, I would suggest to
the coach that we have a pizzaparty. You know what, Matt,
Food is the way to a lotof people's hearts. I want to be
on your team because I would go. I would do good for you just
so I could have a piece ofpizza. How's that? What's your favorite

(22:00):
pizza? Sausage, spinach, andgreen peppers. I didn't see that coming.
I did not. I was thinkingyou were gonna say pepperoni. Surprised
to me again, But you know, what, can you do me one
favor? Sure? Can you tellpeople what it means to you to be
a global messenger athlete and to bea part of Unified Sports special embase means

(22:26):
that I have good friends in thestate office, and I have good friends
like you, Guys like you guys, athletes and law enforcement and let me
win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in another tempt.

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That's a special inbased oath ah thatdeserves a round of applause. Matt,
I love seeing you here today,and I want to make sure we
get to another athlete before we wrapour first segment up with Special Olympics at
Connecticut. We're doing a two weektakeover here in iHeart Communities. Mike Mason
is here their president and CEO,their board chair, Matt Netche. We

(23:08):
just heard from Global Messenger athlete Maclad So Matt, it's now time for
you to get up and make roomfor another Global Messenger athlete, Albert Logman.
So Albert's gonna come and switch spots. And before we get to out,
Mike again reminds people that are listeningright now, because I want to
make sure we're getting the message acrossthat if there is a guardian, a

(23:32):
mom, or a dad, ora family member listening and wanting to get
their kids or someone that they supportin their lives a part of Special Olympics
Connecticut, sometimes making that first callor going on that website can be It's
a thought process, right what canthey do well, I think we make
it as easy. We have anamazing young person on our staff, Emily

(23:56):
Pitney, and she helps to workwith family or with group home systems,
et cetera, to get athletes registeredwith Special Olympics and get them involved in
the community based program. So whenyou go to sooct dot org clicking on
getting involved, want to become anathlete, the process is laid out right

(24:17):
there. She's always available, hernumber is there, her email is there,
and it's really a very painless wayof getting involved. And we ask
everybody to reach out to us ifthere's any questions to call, and all
that information is there. You know, our phone numbers for every staff member
is there, what they do,what their responsibilities are. And I'll just

(24:40):
to Matt's point talking about the differentlocal programs that he participates. You don't
have to live in the town tobe part of that local program. And
so we have athletes all the timethat are involved in two three different local
programs because of the sports that theyoffer at different times of the year work
better in their schedule. So Ijust want people to keep that in mind.
And we're talking statewide, no matterwhere you live. Wherever you're listening

(25:03):
to this program, there's something nearyou or accessible to you, or they
won't make it accessible for you.I got to bring my friend Albert.
Hi, Albert, Oh my gosh, talking to the microphone for me.
I know, Heyneey, I loveseeing you. I remember remember that time
you were in my hon Air studio. We were playing music and dancing in
there, many many years ago.Oh my gosh, don't die. Don't

(25:26):
give me your age out. I'mgoing to try not to give my age
out. Thank you, Albert,you're still young. We're still young.
And thank you first of all,Renee for all you do for us,
because you are a champion for peoplewith intellectual disabilities and you rock. Thank

(25:53):
you, Albert. I love you. You know you're like family to me,
and thank you for that very much. You guys are the best.
Honestly, look at you did,Albert. You made me go speechless.
I'm speechless. I'm sorry. That'sokay. Tell everybody again, listen,
I'm talking to you right now.You tell me your favorite sport if you

(26:15):
don't mind, and then also talka little bit about unified sports. Right.
You know, it's hard to saybecause I love them all yeah,
I love them all. All thesports that I have done, I have
not I I have uh scaled backa little bit, but I still love
the sports programs and I still lovethe people. I still am my athlete,

(26:41):
my athlete friends, and you knowit's I Before Special Olympics, I
was I always felt disengaged, disinvolved. But since Special Olympics it's helped
me work in in the community,do some great jobs that I have been

(27:08):
part of. It's been a it'sbeen a life changer so for so many
people. And before unified Special Olympicsand Special Olympics sports, I was always
afraid to go to the doctor.But now hey, I love my doctors

(27:33):
because they keep me healthy so Ican play, play, play, and
I played. You name the sportswhich Connecticut, Special Olympics, Hardford,
I've done it. And you youknow, let's I mean, I'm not
going to give your age way either, Albert. But quickly before we have
to wrap, how how old wereyou when you started Special Olympics. Well,

(27:56):
I was little teenie bopper. Iwas a teeny bopper and I we
we took a break for a while, but then we got we we have
so many great coaches in Connecticut.Mary lou Abelson, who is a coach

(28:18):
at where I was from, decidedto have a team and her assistant in
her assistant's new husband. I don'tknow if you If I can say Rudy
Alvarez, Rudy Alvarez and Robin Alvarezand Mary Louis Abelson and her husband Joe

(28:42):
were the first to get me involvedin Special Olympics and man special Olympic rocks.
Do guy said? And like Isaid before, Special Olympic Rocks and
from eighty to one hundred if youcan stand it. Special Olympics is a

(29:06):
great organization, great programming, greatpeople. When are you're always when you're
with Special Olympics. Wow, whata way to wrap the first segment of
Special Olympics Connecticut. Here on iHeartCommunities, we just heard from global messenger
athlete Albert Lognan and of course ourguests today Mike Mason, President's CEO Board,

(29:27):
Shair Matt Natchi. I'm Renee Denino. Stay tuned for another segment as
we talk about healthy athletes with SpecialOlympics Connecticut. Here on iHeart Communities.
Great job everyone, Wow, who