SPECIAL ATHLETES GIVE COACHES SPECIAL THRILL.Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer Pat Hendrickson's almost impulsive decision 15 years ago to volunteer as a coach for a group of Conejo Valley The Conejo Valley is a region spanning both Southeastern Ventura County and Northwest Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States. It was discovered in 1542 by Spanish explorer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and eventually became part of the Rancho El Conejo land grant by Special Olympians led to her present career working with special needs students. Hendrickson - at the time ``a mother, homemaker, volunteer in church'' - had seen an article in a local newspaper that mentioned a need for a track and field coach and thought it was something she might want to get involved in. ``I had never worked with special needs people before and I really didn't know what to expect,'' said Hendrickson, 54. Perhaps out of inexperience, she simply treated the athletes the same as she would anyone who was not developmentally disabled. ``Somebody forgot to tell me that they couldn't do anything and I came in with the expectation that they could do things and, by George, they could,'' she said. Within three years this experience had led her to part-time positions in the Conejo Recreation and Park District's therapeutic unit and in the Conejo Valley Unified School District Conejo Valley Unified School District or CVUSD is a school district in Ventura County. It serves Thousand Oaks, California and its subsections Newbury Park and Westlake Village. as an instructional assistant in Madrona Elementary School's special education department. ``That was the start of a new career,'' she says. But she continues the coaching and is one of several volunteers helping prepare the special athletes for the Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, Special Olympics Special Olympics International sports program for people with intellectual disability. It provides year-round training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type summer and winter sports for participants. Summer Games This article is about the Epyx video game series. For the international multi-sport event, see Summer Olympic Games. Summer Games is a sports video game developed by Epyx and released by U.S. Gold based on sports featured in the Summer Olympic Games. to be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the University of California, Los Angeles UCLA comprises the College of Letters and Science (the primary undergraduate college), seven professional schools, and five professional Health Science schools. Since 2001, UCLA has enrolled over 33,000 total students, and that number is steadily rising. . ``I always had loved coaching - it's always challenging, it's always new and it's always surprising,'' the Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. resident said. ``Sometimes you get results you never expected.'' Ventura County is sending 70 athletes to this year's games, with several coming from the Conejo Valley and Simi Valley, according to officials. Some will participate in Thursday's Torch Run ceremony welcoming the Special Olympics torch into Ventura County. Among them is 21-year-old Mike Bierman of Thousand Oaks, who's competed in basketball, bowling, track and other sports in past Special Olympics. This year he will compete in the pentathlon pentathlon (pĕntăth`lən), composite athletic event. In ancient Greece it comprised leaping, foot racing, wrestling, discus throwing, and casting the javelin. . He said his favorite event in the pentathlon is the high jump, which shouldn't be a surprise given that he stands 6 feet, 4 inches tall. ``I like that the best - they put the bar even higher because I jump over it so fast because I have really long legs,'' Bierman said. Even the lulls between events are fun, because then he can watch all the action everywhere else around him. ``You can do a lot of things, you can walk around and watch after you're done in track and field,'' he said. ``You can watch basketball and all kinds of sports.'' The games are not only fun but therapeutic, according to his mother, Patricia. Bierman remembers her son as quiet and withdrawn before he started participating in the Special Olympics about eight years ago. ``He went from a very reserved, nonspeaking, hide-your-head kind of child to very outgoing, talk-to-anybody now,'' Patricia Bierman said. ``It's changed his whole personality because he could succeed. It's made quite an improvement in his life. ``Special Olympics is great, I think any child that needs it should be in it.'' Mike's coach is 18-year-old Amy Dryer of Calabasas, who threw shot put and discus for the Calabasas High School Calabasas High School is a four-year high school, freshman-senior, in Calabasas, California, United States. Calabasas High School, which serves portions of Calabasas and the West Hills, Los Angeles, California section of Los Angeles, is one of three high schools in the Las track team and whose mother works with Hendrickson. It was Hendrickson who asked Dryer to volunteer as a Special Olympics coach, which she agreed to, though not without some initial trepidation. ``I really wanted to know how well-functioning they were, but I really wanted to do it,'' said Dryer, who plans to major in recreation at college. ``I thought `Yeah, it sounds like fun.'' Besides using the experience as credit toward her Gold Award from the Girl Scouts, coaching the Special Olympians has given her a special pleasure in seeing the improvement her athletes have made over the month she has worked with them. ``It's nice to see the kids improve a lot,'' she said. ``When I started out with them their form was kind of shaky. I see them improve like that and I made them do that - that's special.'' The torch run ceremony is scheduled for Thursday at 8:30 a.m. on the front steps of Ventura City Hall, 501 Poli St. Two hundred law enforcement officers from 13 agencies will run the torch over 79 miles to Drake Stadium at UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . A spur torch run, the first ever for the Special Olympics, starts at 8 a.m. Thursday at Simi Valley Police Department The Simi Valley Police Department (SVPD) is the police department of the city of Simi Valley, California. The department currently has over 120 sworn officers, and more than 65 support personnel[1]. The department has a patrol area that covers over 39 square miles. , winding its way through Thousand Oaks and Newbury Park and on to the Pacific Coast Highway Pacific Coast Highway may refer to:
CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color) Mike Bierman, 21, of Thousand Oaks, left, practices for the Special Olympics with Brian Cross at Cal Lutheran. Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News |
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