Downers Grove man to officiate second Special Olympics World Games
Complications from cerebral palsy kept Andrea Coleman from ever playing the sport she loved, but she never missed any of her brother's tennis matches.
When Andrea died in 1996 her brother, John Coleman, said it was difficult to not see her smiling face cheering him on from the stands. But as a Special Olympics official, Coleman said, he now gets to see smiles just like Andrea's on the faces of many competitors.
“It's all about the joy you see in these athletes' faces as they are raised to a level of competing in an official match,” Coleman said. “That's what I love to watch. I love to see the elation in their faces.”
Coleman, of Downers Grove, is one of eight American tennis officials heading to Los Angeles this week for the 2015 Special Olympics World Games.
Coleman, the USTA District Chairman of Tennis Officials for Chicago and Northern Illinois, also has officiated at the 2006 Special Olympics USA Games in Ames, Iowa, and the 2010 Special Olympics USA Games in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“I'm also very fortunate to have represented the USA as a tennis official at the World Special Olympics Games in Shanghai, China, in 2007,” Coleman said. “That was an incredible experience, so I'm very excited to share that experience with the athletes again.”
Although Andrea was never involved in Special Olympics, Coleman said she would have been happy to see that he continues to work with children and adults with disabilities.
“I know she's with me when I'm helping these athletes and their families,” Coleman said.
In addition to working as a tennis official, Coleman also mentors athletes. He counts a young tennis player from Florida among his success stories.
“I met a young athlete named Jonathon Doring in 2009 in Hilton Head and he told me he would love to become an official,” Coleman said. “I worked with him, got him certified as an official and made him a chair tennis official. That's unprecedented.”
Coleman expects to stay in Los Angeles through the World Games' closing ceremonies on Sunday, Aug. 2.
More than 7,000 athletes from 177 nations will compete in 25 Olympic-style sports at the 2015 World Games, which marks the 14th Special Olympics World Games.
With an anticipated 30,000 volunteers and 500,000 spectators, the 2015 Special Olympics World Games will be the largest sports and humanitarian event anywhere in the world in 2015, and the single biggest event in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympic Games.