D128 Special Olympics coach named finalist for top award

Submitted by Community High School District 128

Community High School District 128 Special Olympics Head Coach Andy Compton has been named one of 13 finalists for the 2016 Special Olympics North America Coach of the Year award.

He was chosen for this honor from among the more than 130,000 Special Olympics coaches in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

The Coach of the Year Award was established in the late 1980s and is given annually to an active, certified Special Olympics coach who has met several criteria, particularly as having made a significant and demonstrable impact on local Special Olympics programs and their communities.

There are more than 130,000 coaches within Special Olympics North America, providing instruction and competition in more than 32 sports.

"I was very surprised when my Area Director told me he was nominating me for North American Special Olympic Coach of the Year in late November," Compton said.

When he hadn't heard anything about the award recipients, Compton decided to check the Special Olympics website. He started reading an article about Coach Penny McDowall from Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands, who was named the 2016 Coach of Year.

"I was reading the article about this amazing coach and all of her accomplishments, and in one of the paragraphs it talked about how many Special Olympic coaches there are, 130,000 in North America, and from that who was selected as the 13 finalists to receive the award, and as I'm reading the list of the finalists I see my name!

"How neat that was to see that out of all of those coaches I was in the top 13. Pretty cool and very humbling," Compton said.

"On behalf of the entire D128 family, a very sincere appreciation, congratulations and thanks to Andy for his deep commitment to and stellar leadership of the awesome D128 Special Olympics program over the years," D128 Superintendent Prentiss Lea said.

"We are all very excited for and proud of Andy for his much-deserved recognition as a national 'best of the best' Special Olympics Coach."

Lea noted that Compton and his team have continued to grow the D128 Special Olympics program to meet the needs and wants of the students.

"His dedicated partnership with our students, parents, coaching staff, and volunteers continue to provide outstanding opportunities and incredible success for our students in the program, and it is just a privilege to support Andy and our amazing students in the Special Olympics program," Lea said.

Compton, who teaches in the Vernon Hills High School Physical Welfare Department, coached softball, track and cross-country in D128 before taking on Special Olympics full time.

"I wanted to try something new as a PE teacher and integrated PE seemed interesting," Compton said. "As I learned more about how to teach the class, it was mentioned to me that the curriculum should follow the Special Olympics calendar. Boom! Everything took off from there."

Compton has always had a connection with Special Olympics.

"I love the Olympics," Compton said. "My oldest true cousin had Down syndrome and competed in swimming in the very early days of Special Olympics. The area director was very persuasive and I really felt drawn to it."

He began the D128 Special Olympics program in the winter of 2000-01. That season, Compton was the only D128 Special Olympics coach, but he was soon joined by Jim Rogers.

"We started with two athletes, who I still see at competitions today, and grew to a high of 25 athletes just a few years ago" Compton said.

The team, which includes athletes from both Libertyville High School and Vernon Hills High School, competed in two sports the first year: snowshoeing and track.

The D128 Special Olympians now compete in nine sports throughout the year including basketball, unified basketball, soccer, unified soccer, floor hockey, bocce, bowling, snowshoeing and track. The team also has competed in flag football and powerlifting.

"A special thank you is in order as well to our superintendent, Prentiss Lea," Compton said. "He really stepped up years ago and gave us all the support we needed to continue to grow to be what we are today."

As the program has grown, so have the number of coaches.

"It was Jim and me for many years," he said, "and now we have three other coaches in the program in VHHS teachers Corey Atwell, Sean Kelly and Jerry Miceli, plus all of the student volunteers that have come and gone over the years."

Compton noted that the program has been truly blessed to be in such a wonderful community and school district that is so supportive of what they do.

"Our program is where it's at because of our amazing athletes and their families. They are the driving force that continues to motivate me to reach new heights."

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