Chitwood began his work with Special Olympics five years ago as a UofL student through the organization’s Unified Collegiate program, participating in Unified sports activities on campus. Since then, his work with Special Olympics has continued to expand.

While in-person activities were not possible, Chitwood helped organize virtual activities to help keep athletes involved. Earlier this year, Chitwood competed with athlete Caitlin Roy in the Global Special Olympics Unified Esports event, Gaming for Inclusion. Even while completing an internship at Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital, Chitwood remained involved, commuting back to Louisville one night a week for Unified Basketball events because he knew our athletes were depending on him.

In addition to Unified sports, Chitwood has helped provide health screenings at MedFest, participated in the Polar Plunge and regularly recruits family and friends to join him as volunteers at events. Chitwood completed his Master’s Degree in Bioengineering at UofL in December and plans to attend medical school. 

In presenting his award, SOKY Director of Unified Champion Schools Karen Michalak-Parsley said, “(Chitwood) has become a friend and Unified partner to many athletes, a trusted volunteer and someone all of Special Olympics Kentucky can depend on.”

The team combines traditional Special Olympics athletes with teammates who do not have an intellectual disability to train and compete together and includes six athletes, four unified partners and two coaches. It is the first unified team that Special Olympics Kentucky has ever sent to a USA Games.

The roster includes:

• Athlete Nick Coslow, 23, of Louisville is a 2016 graduate of Male High School. Coslow has been involved in Special Olympics since 2013, competing in basketball, bowling, flag football, softball and track and field in addition to unified sports. He has worked at Kentucky Kingdom and Griff’s Restaurant in the past and currently works at Cabela’s. Coslow also has volunteered at Norton Children’s Hospital and the Louisville Zoo.
• Unified partner Michelle Goderwis, 19, is from Newport, Kentucky, and is a sophomore at UofL majoring in economics and sustainability. She has been active in Unified Sports at Louisville since arriving on campus, participating in basketball, bocce and human foosball. She plans to attend law school and hopes to practice environmental law.
• Athlete Hunter Kasse, 21, of Louisville has been involved in Special Olympics for eight years, competing in basketball, bowling, golf, softball and track and field. He has worked as a package handler at UPS for the past two years.
• Athlete Tim Kornrumpf, 30, of Louisville is the only member of the team with previous USA Games experience, having competed in track and field at the 2010 Games in Lincoln, Nebraska. There he won a gold medal in the 4×100 relay and a bronze in the 100-meter dash. Kornrumpf followed that in 2014 in New Jersey, competing as part of the Team Kentucky flag football team that claimed a bronze medal. A Special Olympics athlete for 19 years, he has competed in basketball, bowling, cheerleading, flag football, softball, swimming and track and field. Kornrumpf is starting a job soon at UPS.
• Athlete Trent Martinez, 24, of Louisville has been a Special Olympics athlete for nine years competing in basketball, flag football, soccer and softball. Martinez has worked at UPS unloading trucks for four years.
• Athlete Garrett Nason, 19, of Louisville has been a Special Olympics athlete for nine years, competing in basketball, bowling, flag football, golf, soccer, softball, swimming and track and field. Nason’s sister, Kalina, also participates in the program. Nason works at UPS unloading package containers.
• Unified partner Eric Piernas Jr., 24, is from Rineyville, Kentucky, and has been instrumental in the growth of the Unified Sports program at UofL. He has participated in unified basketball for several years and has competed at two NIRSA National Unified Basketball Championships. Piernas is working toward his master’s degree in sports administration and has worked in UofL Intramural and Recreational Sports for five years.
• Athlete Cory Pitsenberger, 23, of Louisville is a graduate of Eastern High School where he participated on the unified basketball and track teams. He also was a team manager for the varsity basketball team. He has been involved in Special Olympics for 12 years competing in basketball, flag football, soccer and softball. Pitsenberger was a member of the unified basketball teams that represented UofL in the 2018 and 2019 NIRSA National Basketball Championships. He works at the Nike Outlet Store.
• Unified partner Kevin Sullivan, 21, is a UofL senior and serves on the DeSales High School basketball coaching staff. While at UofL, he has participated in the unified basketball program. Sullivan is a civil and environmental engineering major and has plans to become a water resource engineer.
• Unified partner Olivia Whitehead, 20, is a sophomore at UofL, where she has participated in unified basketball, bocce and human foosball. Whitehead is majoring in bioengineering and plans to become a physician assistant or work developing new prosthetics.

The team will be coached by Katherine Halbleib and Justin Peterson. Halbleib is the assistant director of intramural sports at UofL and the main liaison for Special Olympics. Halbleib graduated from UofL with a bachelor’s in sport administration in 2017 and completed her MBA in 2019.

Peterson is the associate director of facility operations for UofL Intramural and Recreational Sports. He earned a bachelor’s in history and social sciences from Central Michigan University and a master’s in recreation and sport management from Indiana State University.

“We’re excited to once again have the opportunity to send athletes, unified partners and coaches to the USA Games,” said Special Olympics Kentucky President and CEO Trish Mazzoni. “Being selected to Team Kentucky for the Games is not only a tremendous honor for our athletes, but it offers a great opportunity for personal growth. We have seen many of our athletes be transformed by this experience at the previous four USA Games that have been held. Plus, with these games being held largely at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex, it will be a one-of-a-kind environment and a chance to compete in world-class facilities.”

The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games, scheduled for June 5-12 in Orlando, Florida, will unite more than 5,500 athletes and coaches from all 50 states and the Caribbean. The unified collegiate team joins six other Louisville-area athletes who will compete at the 2022 USA Games: Dallas Derringer, Justin Hale, Austin Stine, Michaela Hickerson, Caitlin Roy and Trevor Yates.

UofL was the first university in Kentucky to implement the Special Olympics unified college program and basketball was the first opportunity that was offered. Bocce and human foosball have since been added. Team Kentucky will compete against teams from colleges in Florida, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, North Carolina and Texas at the USA Games.

The 2022 USA Games are the fifth such games in Special Olympics history. Past USA Games were held in 2006 in Ames, Iowa; 2010 in Lincoln, Nebraska; in 2014 in New Jersey; and in 2018 in Seattle.

Now, bocce ball has been added to the mix. In 2020, UofL was the first college in the nation to host a Unified Bocce Ball Tournament with SOKY athletes and in partnership with SOKY. The tournament was comprised of four university students and four SOKY athletes who were split into unified pairs.

Bocce ball has become one of the most popular sports worldwide for Special Olympic athletes, partly due to its accessibility. Bocce ball is a universal game that is not complex for any newcomers to learn and allows players to focus on the company they keep and the atmosphere that’s created. SOKY prides itself on athletes being able to play by the sports’ rules and teach everyone there to participate.

“This was my first time playing any bocce,” said Dallas Derringer, a SOKY athlete. “I safely met new people while playing during a pandemic. My partner’s name was Sean and I got to see my friend, Pat.”

Being the first college in the nation to host the Unified Bocce Ball Tournament shows the strength of UofL’s relationship with Special Olympics and serves as a spark for other colleges to take UofL’s lead with their respective Special Olympics state organizations.

UofL students who volunteered to be a part of the tournament believe the partnership with SOKY has impacted their lives.

“I have been fortunate to be a regular volunteer with SOKY for around four years now, so it has been very rewarding to see the Unified Sports program expand to UofL”, said Corey Chitwood, a graduate student completing his MEng in Bioengineering at the university. “It is important for me to interact with individuals with different backgrounds than my own. It is also important to make sure everyone in our community feels included to participate, so it was awesome the UofL could partner with SOKY for a unified event that was accessible to those at all ability levels.”

SOKY serves over 11,000 athletes who participate in the statewide program.

“Besides our sports initiatives, we offer services to our athletes in the realm of our Healthy Athletes Program. It is designed in improving overall health, wellness and fitness of our athletes,” said Karen Michalak-Parsley, director of the Unified Champion Schools.

Intramural and Recreational Sports and SOKY’s partnership is another way that the university achieves its goal of diversity and inclusion for the UofL community and the city. According to Michalak-Parsley, there is a desire to introduce more unified sports to the university and have more participation in the future.

“I had never had the chance to be involved in an event like this before, and I wanted to rise to the opportunity. To put things in perspective, it was most important to me that the Special Olympics athletes had fun and felt included,” said Rebecca Shelby, a UofL student volunteer. “I am proud to have been a part of the University of Louisville making strides to be more diverse and inclusive. This event opened the door to have more events like this where students of the university can help create an accepting environment with unity among unique individuals.”

University of Louisville physical medicine and rehabilitation resident and faculty physicians provided the service as part of MedFest, an event organized by  in partnership with Jefferson County Public Schools.

MedFest, part of the Special Olympics Healthy Athletes Initiative, is an annual event providing free pre-participation physicals for SOKY athletes and individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the community age 8 through adult. The physicals are required for the athletes to compete in Special Olympics activities or unified track or bowling through the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. Optional dental, vision and hearing screenings also are offered to the students and athletes.

“It’s so important for our athletes to receive the medical screenings that they need. We know that through MedFest screenings, underlying conditions a lot of times are determined,” said Kim Satterwhite, senior director of field and athlete services for SOKY.

Priya Chandan, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the UofL Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation who serves as clinical director for the event, said participation in MedFest is not only a service to the community, but also a learning opportunity for the providers.

“Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities experience health disparities, partly because many physicians in the community are not trained to provide care for them,” Chandan said. “It’s important for our trainees – medical residents and students, nurse practitioner and nursing students, and other providers – to have this opportunity to interact with this population.”

Maria Janakos, MD, a resident physician in physical medicine and rehabilitation, was one of 10 UofL physicians who volunteered to provide pre-participation physical exams at this year’s event.

“The athletes are amazing individuals who have tremendous motivation and determination to succeed,” Janakos said. “It is rewarding to have the opportunity to interact with them. One of the individuals I met loves to play basketball. He told me his favorite athlete was LeBron James.”

MedFest has been held every year since 2005. The location alternates between Louisville and Lexington, however UofL PM&R physicians and trainees provide the screenings every year.

Dallas Derringer, one of the athletes at the event to obtain a physical for bowling, basketball and softball, expressed gratitude for the service:  “This physical is going to help me be ready.”

Check out video from Special Olympics MedFest 2018. 

“It brings a new level of confidence to our athletes” said Justin Harville, director of program services at Special Olympics Kentucky. “It brings opportunity for a new community to be formed for them to feel part of the UofL campus.”

The top two teams in the UofL intramural league combined to form a nine-person team of Special Olympians and UofL students, which participated in the national intramural basketball championships at The Ohio State University. UofL’s team finished second out of eight squads, beaten by a team from Toronto in the championship game.

“A lot of them (Special Olympians) are better players than I will ever be,” said John Hower, a UofL senior and member of UofL’s Unified team. “It’s also allowed me to make some new friends on campus … I really wish we had this program earlier in my college career.”

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Priya Chandan, MD, MPH, assistant professor in the UofL School of Medicine and in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, is leading nationwide efforts to help future physicians become more knowledgeable about caring for patients with IDD throughout their lives. Chandan, who has an older brother with Down syndrome, has a personal understanding of the need for physicians who can provide equitable care for people with IDD.

“This patient population is not just a pediatric population. All physicians need to be comfortable serving patients with IDD,” Chandan said.

To achieve that goal, Chandan is leading the National Curriculum Initiative in Developmental Medicine, a partnership between  and the , to ensure future physicians receive training to care for individuals with IDD across their lifespan. Throughout four years, 12 medical school partners will design and implement their own curriculum enhancements. UofL is part of the first cohort for this training, along with Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Colorado. The second cohort includes Ohio State, Case Western Reserve and Georgetown Universities.

Chandan also is working with Amy Holthouser, MD, senior associate dean of medical education, to develop the educational programs at UofL. One program is an elective rotation for fourth-year students at , an interdisciplinary clinic that focuses on caring for people with IDD that is funded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Through working with the patients and staff at Lee Specialty Clinic, the students will become more comfortable treating these patients.

‘Communication is a big part of it’

In addition, second-year medical students at UofL are participating in small group discussions led by  athletes in the Athlete Leadership Program. The goal of these discussions is to help the students better understand the needs of IDD patients by hearing their story and having the athletes express their needs.

Morgan Turner, a SOKY Athlete Ambassador who has met with the second-year students, said the most important message he wants to convey to the students is to include him in communication.

“When working with someone with a disability, be patient and ask questions to the patient and the parent. Don’t just talk to the parent,” Turner said.

“Communication is a big part of it,” Chandan said. “While this is a medical education project, we also see this as a way for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be self-advocates. Having them speak directly to medical providers about what it is like to be a patient and what they need from us is powerful.”

Chandan recently received two additional grants to expand her work. The first, an SOI Inclusive Health Innovation Grant, aims to improve education for resident and attending physicians regarding care for people with IDD. Chandan will work with the , leading efforts to educate resident and attending physicians regarding physiatrists’ role in the care of patients with IDD. Darryl Kaelin, MD, chief, professor and residency director of the UofL Division of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and president of AAPM&R, also is working on the project.

The second grant is from the to collaborate with the University of Kentucky’s Human Development Institute to develop a tool to aid with informed consent discussions. The tool will have the look of a graphic novel and will help facilitate conversations between health care providers, patients with IDD and supporters.

“I went to medical school with the intention of being a physician who serves patients with IDD,” Chandan said. “Along the way, I realized that we have work to do in terms of health education and health care delivery. My goal with these efforts is to improve care for these patients.”