There might have been 14 venues and athletes competing in 19 sports during the 2022 Special Olympic USA Games in Orlando earlier this month, however the University of New Haven volunteer contingent made the volunteer check-in area for bocce as the place to be.

UNH women's soccer players Gabriela Garcia-Perez and Emily Bogdanowicz were Volunteer Service Directors for bocce, which was held at Walt Disney's Coronado Springs Resort.

They were joined by their head coach Laura Duncan, Mackenzie Evans from the women's track and field program, fellow UNH student Avery Alessi and Abby Reynolds, a graduate assistant in the university's compliance department. Former University of New Haven offensive lineman Rob Thompson, who worked with Sports Management Department Chair Ceyda Mumcu to coordinate the set up the volunteer opportunities for the UNH group, was also part of the delegation. They made sure it was an experience none of them will soon forget.

"Throughout the whole week our table was the first table that anybody, including the athletes could see," Garcia-Perez said. "When we saw them  arrive, we would immediately cheer them on, hype them up and they would receive that really well. As the week went on, they would go out of their way to come to our table and just chat with us and tell us about the next game that they were going to be participating in or how their last game went.
We were really able to develop these relationships with the Olympic athletes by just being in close proximity with them and being in a place where they can come, chat and feel welcome and have some laughs."

One of the first duties for the group was learning about the nuances of bocce. Garcia-Perez, who grew up in Guilford, had a few experienced playing the sport with a friend in her hometown. The rest of them knew very little about the sport.

"During the week, when you talk to the athletes and they tell you everything you need to know," Evans said. "When it was over, we did play the game by ourselves. It was just fun because I didn't know what bocce was, I never heard of it until I went down there."

The event proved to be an eye-opening experience for Duncan, who saw two of her players thrive in the leadership role during their eight days in Orlando. Duncan joked that one thing she learned is that one day she could find herself working for Garcia-Perez and Bogdanowicz.

"They were the group leaders and we worked for them," Duncan said. "Seeing them manage different scenarios that came up, very little knowledge on how to handle it and to problem solve at the highest level was unbelievable. I was very proud of them. It was my first time being involved in the Special Olympics and the atmosphere was phenomenal. The excitement, the competitive level of the athletes down there, the coaches, the families and just the joy of people being involved and even their gratitude towards us for helping.

"We were supposed to be celebrating them as athletes and how well they have done by coming from different states to represent their states, but the amount of times that they were thanking us for volunteering was overwhelming."

The partnership with Special Olympics is part of the outreach programs organized by New Haven's Sports Management Department. With all the positive reviews coming from those who headed down to Florida, this could be the start of a wonderful partnership.

"I hope it is a start," Evans said. "I hope the university stays involved with the special Olympics, it really is a great experience. I hope other students get to experience as much as we did.

"If they do get this opportunity through the school, I think they should always take the volunteer experience because you never know what can happen, who you can meet or what doors it can happen."