Volunteers are the backbone of Special Olympics Pennsylvania. Without our volunteers, we’d never be able to provide competition, leadership, health and so many other opportunities to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities throughout Pennsylvania.
Congratulations to Angela Sorg, Elk/Cameron County, for being named our Volunteer of the Month for August 2023!
Angela spent her teenage years in Bradford County. While volunteering as a swim coach during the summer of 1982, Angela worked directly with individuals with intellectual disabilities as a physical therapist. Just a few short years later, her Special Olympics Pennsylvania story was off to a phenomenal start.
We had the chance to chat with Angela about her time with Special Olympics, what she’s learned throughout her 40 years volunteering and the wisdom she shares with current and future coaches and volunteers. Congratulations, Angela, on this well-deserved award!
I went to college and became a physical therapist. When I came back [from college], and I was swimming during my Master’s program, one of the teachers that I worked with said, ‘Why don’t you help out with Special Olympics?’
So, that’s what I did. I just helped with that program. We hosted a couple of Special Olympics swim meets at the Bradford YMCA. During that time, somebody told me to become a coach. In 1985, I moved to St. Marys and started doing some things with the program there and kept coaching swimming. In 1988, I took my first coaching session.
The reason I stick with Special Olympics Pennsylvania is for the athletes. Seeing them improve in swimming or the other sports I coach, but especially in swimming. I also coach bowling, basketball, athletics, long-distance running/walking and bocce. The smiles on their faces when they get a medal, or a ribbon, show they’re always thrilled.
I started going to state [competitions] in 1992. I might have missed a couple in between having kids, but for the most part I’ve always gone to that competition. We have an invitational up in our area as well. Sometimes it’s in Bradford or in Kane. But we always took our athletes to that invitational. It’s the best one for our athletes.
One of the best memories with Special Olympics Pennsylvania would be having my daughter, Rachel, go to states with me as well as my son. My son swam and my daughter was my assistant coach. My daughter went to states three different times when she was 16. She also came to states when she was 18, right after she graduated from high school. Rachel even came to states with me on her 21st birthday.
My other daughter, Maggie, would come along and help with some of the swimming, but mostly track and field. When we have our big track and field meet, I’d say, ‘You’ve got to take off from work and you’ve got to be here for the track and field meet,’ and she always did.
Having Rachel at states was very great. But meeting new people through different sports was amazing. Getting to know everybody and then saying, ‘Okay, what do you do with your program? This is what we do with our program,’ and make comparison notes.
For volunteers, give it all that you can… That will keep you going. My parents instilled volunteering with me growing up. That was the big thing. We’ve had some other volunteers who’ve become coaches and show athletes they’re just like everybody else. They’re there to have fun.
As a volunteer and as a coach, just be there for the athletes. No matter what kind of a mood they’re in or how involved they are. Just be there for them…
Give them that encouragement. They also encourage us as coaches.
Angela was nominated by her daughter, Rachel, who left this note about our Volunteer of the Month:
Rachel Hepburn
“She has been a volunteer for Special Olympics since the 1980s. Angela is the go-to when there is a question about a competition, no matter the sport, because she is trained as a coach for a majority of them! Anytime something [needs] done, either she will step up to do it or will reach out to her numerous sources to help out. If you hear screaming/shouting from the sidelines, nine times out of 10 it is her cheering people on to strive for their best.”
