Special Olympics Rhode Island coach Lindsey Smith has always been drawn to sports. She was a collegiate athlete before transitioning to coaching, and that decision has provided many opportunities to grow in the leadership space, including, in 2024, recognition by Special Olympics North America.
Every year, Special Olympics North America recognizes coaches throughout the Region, including coaches who have made significant contributions in relatively short coaching careers through the Rising Star award. The SONA Outstanding Coach awards celebrate those who help bring the Special Olympics mission to life and are an essential part of expanding the mission of inclusion.
Smith, a schoolteacher and coach from Providence, Rhode Island, is one of the 2024 Special Olympics North America Rising Star award winners. She first became aware of Special Olympics through a family friend who has been an athlete for 20 years, and always knew that she wanted to be involved with the movement. She now coaches both Unified track and field and Unified basketball.
“I really just wanted to do it because I want to make sure that, you know, my kids in my class have an opportunity to be included and to do sports too,” Smith said. “I wanted to do it for them.” Currently, eight of her ten students participate in the program.
Teaching Special Education at Del Sesto Middle School, Smith says that her training as a special education teacher has enabled her to understand her students better and help them feel included in the school. Her students agree.
One of her athletes, Yariana Paulino Sosa said, “Ms. Smith is always encouraging us to try new skills and drills during practice to help us improve in the sport. Ms. Smith is consistent with encouraging us to be the best we can be.” From improving basketball skills through drills to helping create connections with their peers, Smith is always there to support her students and improve their skills, both on and off the field.
For long periods of the day, Smith’s students are with her in the classroom, so having Special Olympics programming helps create healthy and inclusive interactions. Smith believes Unified Champion Schools® programming is “important because specifically at my school, I feel like the kids that I teach in a self-contained classroom, it gives them an opportunity to meet peers that they don’t normally meet.”
Working in a large middle school, Smith has both Unified partners and Special Olympics athletes from diverse backgrounds and with diverse experiences. Special Olympics programming has affected not only the lives of her students, but also those of the Unified partners, individuals without intellectual disabilities who train and compete alongside Special Olympics athletes.
Unified partners can help increase confidence in Special Olympics athletes by encouraging them to try new skills.
When a Special Olympics athlete couldn’t reach the basket at the beginning of the season, Unified partners on the team stepped up to support him. They allowed him to mirror them, and he learned how to make the ball go in. Smith has seen similar support in other sports as well, including track and field, where encouragement from Unified partners helped Special Olympics athletes progress from walking to jogging and eventually running on the track.
These friendships are real, and for Smith, seeing her students walk up to their partners, give them high fives, hugs and sit with them at lunch is very rewarding.
Winning the Rising Star award is something that Smith is proud of. “It was important to me to keep going,” Smith said about coaching. “You know, I didn’t want to drop it cause I wasn’t sure if someone else would pick it up and I wanted to make sure that my kids would still have that opportunity.” The impact and influence on the students made receiving the award and the presentation that came with it that much more meaningful – her students were there with her.
