VIRTUAL FUN: Local Athletes Complete In Special Olympics of PA Virtual Summer Games

This summer, over 1,000 athletes participated in the Virtual Summer Games (VSG) weekend Friday, June 12 to Sunday, June 14, 2020.

The VSG was hosted by the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania in lue of the normal Summer Games that had to be canceled because of COVID-19. The Special Olympics of Pennsylvania connected athletes and with athletes through Facebook as well as using YouTube videos as reference within emails.

However, athletes without the internet could call their times to their coach, who would then upload the scores for them, but only athletes with the internet could post videos. Everyone was welcome to post times and participate. Special Olympics of Pennsylvania will hopefully be able to find public resources for next year to help more athletes to have a chance to participate.

Special Olympics of Pennsylvania representative Marissa Mangie said that they will keep everything virtual for as long as they need to to keep their athletes and volunteers safe. The VSG was a product of many committees working together and working with athletes to gauge what they have concerns for and what they would like to do.

“This was a fun event and medals were not awarded,” Mangie said. “They used the honor system (for scoring) and gave everyone who registered a t-shirt and drawstring bag.”

Leading up to the weekend, athletes had until Sunday, June 7 to submit scores for their events and were encouraged to train as well as submit a video of them practicing or a recording of an encouraging message that would be shared by May 31st.

The weekend consisted of many events on each day as well as informative sessions on how to be a healthy athlete with healthy habits. Friday, athletes participated in opening ceremonies themes activities like Welcome to the Games and they got to view videos that counties in PA did and submitted to encourage the athletes. Saturday, athletes saw the competition highlight videos and Unified Sports Experience as well as Olympic Village Trivia. On Sunday there was Olympic Village Bingo, more competition highlights, and the closing ceremonies. On Sunday, athletes also got to participate in the Victory Dance.

“Pennsylvania Virtual Summer Games had more athlete participation than almost every state in the U S.,” said Mangi. “There were over 1,200 at the dance party.”

Athletes were asked to select to compete in 3 separate events and submit 3 separate scores. There were challenges within 8 Summer Games sport categories that were typically competed in normally. Those categories were: Athletics, Basketball, Equestrian, Golf, Gymnastics, Softball, Swimming & Tennis.

Locally, there were over 20 athletes competing at the VSG. Here are the results for Lawrence and Beaver County athletes:

Shuttle:
Taylor Neidorfer Beaver Female 27 0:18.0
Amy Kochanowski Beaver Female 32 0:10.0
Misty Genzler Beaver Female 13 0:14.08
Gabriel Davis Beaver Male 14 0:08.01
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 0:08.49

Standing Long Jump:
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 0.736
Elizabeth Kraft Beaver Female 37 0.5
Addison Butler Beaver Female 9 0.9525
Amy Kochanowski Beaver Female 32 0.944
Taylor Neidorfer Beaver Female 27 0.092
Misty Genzler Beaver Female 13 1.82
Gavin Behanna Beaver Male 11 0.5

Plank:
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 01:36.6
Courtney Redlinger Beaver Female 27 0:37

Sit Ups:
Courtney Redlinger Beaver Female 27 15
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 68

Straddle Jump:
Courtney Redlinger Beaver Female 27 6
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 16

Basketball Dribble:
Darren Pigza Lawrence Male 21 94
Gabriel Davis Beaver Male 14 117
Nathan Barker Beaver Male 35 25
Addison Butler Beaver Female 9 46

Bounce Pass:
Elizabeth Kraft Beaver Female 37 60
Nathan Barker Beaver Male 35 26
Darren Pigza Lawrence Male 21 24

Slalom:
Nathan Barker Beaver Male 35 10
Darren Pigza Lawrence Male 21 7.6

Softball, Baserunning:
Meghan Crawford Beaver Female 21 00:06.4

Bucket toss:
Taylor Neidorfer Beaver Female 27 2
Meghan Crawford Beaver Female 21 3

Throwing:
Meghan Crawford Beaver Female 21 45
Amy Kochanowski Beaver Female 32 34
Elizabeth Kraft Beaver Female 37 40
Gavin Behanna Beaver Male 11 20

Equestrian – Obstacles:
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 3.61

Post/Trot:
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 42

Backstroke:
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23
Allison Graham Lawrence Female 32 90
Colt List Lawrence Male 38 40
Lydia Wert Beaver Female 21

Butterfly:
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 38
Allison Graham Lawrence Female 32 20
Colt List Lawrence Male 38 28

Freestyle:
Chelsea Lasky Lawrence Female 23 46
Allison Graham Lawrence Female 32 30
Colt List Lawrence Male 38 14
Lydia Wert Beaver Female 21 16

Golf – Long Putt:
Andrea Snider Lawrence Female 46 29
Travis Jones Lawrence Male 34 21
Nick Kitzko Lawrence Male 26 30
Brennon Lacko Lawrence Male 38 40

Short Putt:
Travis Jones Lawrence Male 34 15
Brennon Lacko Lawrence Male 38 24
Nick Kitzko Lawrence Male 26 270
Andrea Snider Lawrence Female 46 31

For a full list of results, check out the Special Olympics of Pennsylvania website page here or for more information on the VSG check here.