A special calling: local couple coordinates Special Olympics

By Cynthia Pegram

Published: August 18, 2008

Although this is the first year that Jim and Heather Schoffstall will be coordinating Special Olympics in Lynchburg, the couple’s commitment to the athletes is long-standing.

“It’s really like getting back to the pure basis of what sports are all about,” said Jim Schoffstall. “They don’t care if they win or lose, they just love the participation.”

The couple, both accomplished athletes, have fostered four special needs children, two of whom participated in Special Olympics in Lynchburg, a component of Special Olympics Virginia.

if you’re going

WHAT: Special Olympics upcoming events
WHEN and WHERE: Volleyball; Oct. 18, Heritage Baptist Church, 219 Breezewood Dr., Lynchburg; Basketball tournament, Feb. 7, also at Heritage Baptist Church.
INFO: Ways to help: Volunteering and donating, with a $50 donation supporting one athlete for one season and a $500 donation taking an athlete through all four seasons and major events. To donate or to volunteer, contact Lynchburg Special Olympics, Virginia Area 24, P.O. Box 101113, Lynchburg, 24506-0113, or go to http://www.specialolympicsva.org

And Jim Schoffstall, who teaches health sciences and kineseology at Liberty University, has one class for students who want to become physical education teachers and work with students with
disabilities.

Heather, director of the LU Bruckner Learning Center and its learning strategies classes, traces her interest in special education to her childhood in California.

“My sister grew up with disabilities,” she said. “A lot of the special education classes were out in portables in back of the school. It was real segregated.”

She observed her sister’s experience, “and I thought, ‘I could do a better job than that.’”

From the sixth grade, Heather knew she wanted to be a teacher. “I was the first one in my family to go to college.” She won a springboard diving scholarship to Old Dominion University, even though her first love was gymnastics.

At ODU, she met the talented wrestler and weight lifter from Pennsylvania, Jim Schoffstall, who also had an interest in teaching and working with people with disabilities. Both were using the training room, and both became interested in power lifting; the shared interests led to dating and marriage.

Jim holds a doctorate, and Heather will complete her doctoral requirements this year. The couple came to Lynchburg in 1999 and worked for several years in Lynchburg City Schools.

One day, not too long after they moved here, the couple were out hiking at the Peaks of Otter, and Heather was wearing a Special Olympics T-shirt given to her by a friend. A woman noted the shirt, and said her daughter had special needs and participated in Special Olympics.

She asked if they were into Special Olympics. “We said we would like to be,” said Jim.

She put them in contact with Rita Kidd, a leader in Area 24 Special Olympics in Lynchburg, and Kidd’s son, Rubin.

The rest is history. “Our love for the special needs population, and athletics, … all sort of came together,” said Heather.

Jim Schoffstall joined the LU faculty in 2001; Heather in 2003. The couple have a son, Toby, who is 3 years old.

“He’s into sports,” said Heather. “He’s going to be very athletic.”

He goes with them to some of the Special Olympic competitions, which he enjoys, she said, “and he likes hanging out with the athletes.”

Jim Schoffstall’s class on adapted physical activity requires the students to spend three hours working with Special Olympics. At first, those who have never worked with people with disabilities “are really leery,” said Jim Schoffstall. “But they all love it by the time they’re done.”

Some continue after their requirement is complete. “I’ve had some of my students bring family, spouse and children, make it a family event.”

Jim said that students go into it knowing that the special Olympians are different in some ways, “but are not quite sure why, or how. Because of the difference they’re not sure how to interact.

“Once they start interacting ... they have that sport bond. And when they see these individuals getting out there, trying and doing well, succeeding, the sport helps break down a lot of barriers.”

They begin to get to know the individuals and their personalities, said Heather. “They’re just people like we are; they have needs just like we do.

“It’s neat to see: When they first walk into the gym, students are standing there, and at the end of the day, they’re giving high fives and hugs.”

The couple frequently hear the observation that the athletes are a lot more talented than they expected.

“They’re a really good, talented bunch of athletes,” said Heather.

The physical activity provides health benefits for the Olympians, and for some of the athletes who don’t work, Special Olympics provides a social network.

Yet it’s hard to find community volunteers, although the time commitment is an hour to an hour and a half a week for practice sessions.

“I think a lot of people don’t think they know how to coach a sport or think they’re not good enough,” said Jim. “I can tell you from personal experience — I coached our golf team, but I’m a really bad golfer — you don’t have to be good at it to coach it.”

Right now, Special Olympics in Lynchburg is for those in their teens to 50-plus. The four seasons of sports include volleyball and golf in the fall, two-man bowling and gymnastics in the winter, basketball in the spring, and track and field in the summer. Lynchburg athletes can join the Campbell County program for swimming, said Heather, who coaches the gymnastics component.

Although this is the first time they’ve acted as coordinators for Special Olympics, which means they are also on the administrative end as well as the athletic side, they’ve always enjoyed any involvement with it, said Heather.

“We love it.”