Irene Smith has dedicated her life to special education and the Special Olympics — 37 years teaching and 41 years as a coach.
Wichita State University is hosting the Special Olympics summer games this weekend at Cessna Stadium. Smith, 82, will be recognized for her time and service as a coach during opening ceremonies Friday night. She will be named the Outstanding Coach of the Year for Special Olympics Kansas.
Smith was notified of the honor in early March. At first, she received a letter saying she would be named the coach of the year for the Southeast Kansas Region for 2013. A week later, she received a similar letter saying she would be the coach of the year for the entire state.
“I didn’t know anything about all of this,” Smith said. “Joy Riebel is the one that nominated me.”
Riebel, 58, has worked as a coach with Smith for around 30 years. She started when her son, Steven, was old enough to be on the Special Olympics team.
“She’s an outstanding coach,” Riebel said. “She’s being coaching the Special Olympics since they first started in Kansas.”
THIS WEEKEND, Smith is going to the summer games with eight kids from the region. They will compete in the track and field competition. The events include relays, 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, running long jump, standing long jump and the softball throw.
“We go out to Wichita every year for the track and field,” Riebel said. “We also do bowling. Track and field and bowling are the two events we do every year. We’ve also done other sports, but they just haven’t worked for our group.”
According to Smith, the team will stay in a hotel for two nights, Friday and Saturday. They were able to compete at WSU because they passed a special physical in order to attend the games. The kids also made it after competing in primary competitions.
“We have to train these kids, so in the spring we always go down to the park one afternoon and get their scores,” Smith said. “We turn these scores into the state and then they put the kids in the division with their ability.”
From there, they go to Pittsburg for the area meet. After they compete in Pittsburg, they decide if they can go to Wichita for the state competition.
SMITH has been a teacher for 59 years. Over half of those have been involved in teaching or coaching special education kids.
“She just really cares about the kids,” Riebel said.
There is a lot of work involved for Smith to be able to continue coaching. She has to test for a certification every four years. Every volunteer must pass an annual background check. The program itself must pass the protected behavior check, to make sure that no sexual offenders are working with the kids.
