Photo By Talysa Lloyd McCall | Washington Cheer Team Seawolves practice a stunt during a team training camp at Joint...... read more read more
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. – Special Olympics Washington provides year-round sports training and athletic competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, offering them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage and have fun.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord hosted a series of team and individual training camps across the base March 26-27. The Washington Cheer Team was selected to participate in this year’s Olympic games in Orlando, Florida, from June 5 to 12.
“The training camps allow for the athletes to train with different coaches before the Olympics,” said Genia Stewart, assistant coach of the cheer team and Special Olympics coordinator for JBLM since 2010. “This is important because the coach they are used to having in their year round sports may not be their coach on competition day for USA Games..”
Until recently, the team consisted of only athletes from JBLM and was known as the JBLM Tigers, but due to COVID-19, this year JBLM and Thurston County combined teams to form the Washington Cheer Team Seawolves. Six of the 10 Seawolves are family members of current or retired JBLM service members.
“I was selected to be on the team from Thurston County,” said Nyah Hart, a recent graduate from River Ridge High School in Lacey and a JBLM military family member. “I love the positive energy of the team and the coaches. We are always having a good time.”
Stewart and Stacie Pogoncheff, a mother of one of the team members, started the Tigers cheer program about seven years ago. Pogoncheff saw a need for cheerleading to be offered as a sports option in the Special Olympics. After extensive research and hard work, Stewart and Pogoncheff presented a plan to Special Olympics Washington.
The organization accepted the plan, and the next year cheerleading was placed in the categories. This made the JBLM Tigers the first Special Olympics cheer team in the state.
The Special Olympics are modeled very closely after the Olympic Games, giving people with disabilities the opportunity to compete against their peers. Stewart has a special connection to the teams through her son.
“My son played basketball when he was younger, but after he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, he felt he couldn’t participate anymore,” Stewart said. “I signed him up for Special Olympics as a Unified Partner, initially, but he has since been diagnosed with Autism as well, and is now an athlete and it helped him come out of his shell. He’s even a coach now for bowling.”
Seawolves Head Coach Karen Elliott also has a special connection to the team as well since her daughter is currently on the team.
“It’s an opportunity for my daughter to be independent,” Elliott said. “She’s growing in her mental skills and social skills which are crucial since COVID(-19). I’ve also gained nine new daughters this season.”
The only JBLM family members to qualify for the national Special Olympics are those on the Seawolves. If the Seawolves win the Olympic Games in Orlando, the team will travel to Berlin to compete internationally.
“It’s life changing for the athletes to be able to be themselves,” Stewart said. “They don’t feel bad for not being able to keep up in regular sports. When they join, they come out of their shells and get that sense of belonging that they crave. We work with them one-on-one to tend to their needs. The growth is my favorite part. That lightbulb that goes off when they realize they can do it.”
| Date Taken: | 03.26.2022 |
| Date Posted: | 03.29.2022 16:38 |
| Story ID: | 417415 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WASHINGTON, US |
| Web Views: | 49 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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