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Austin, Texas – Concordia University Texas Athletics received the 2012 Special Olympics Texas Area 13 award for “outstanding service from a civic/service organization,” as announced by the organization on Friday, Apr. 13 at a banquet held at the Phillips Event Center in Austin. Student-Athlete Advisory Committee President Dalaine Whitlock and Sports Information Director Matthew Chmura were invited to the ceremony and accepted the award for their dedication and hard work to make a partnership between both groups a rousing success.

Whitlock and Chmura also were also among a select few individuals to receive certificates of appreciation. They were each given a glass frame which included inside it a team photo of the Hill Country Stars' flag football team when the squad received its medals at the state games. The Hill Country Stars are based out of North Austin and were regularly among the groups participating in events that Concordia student-athletes volunteered at while also being one of the most frequent teams to attend CTX home athletic events throughout the year.

After CTX Athletics officially announced the partnership with the non-profit organization at its annual athletic awards banquet on Apr. 19, 2011, Whitlock and the school's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee started an Athletes for Athletes Program that has been recognized by Special Olympics Texas (SOTX) Public Relations. The program involves Concordia student-athletes going to support and volunteer at SOTX events in Austin and SOTX athletes coming to Concordia home events to support the Tornados in which all the game activities would be centered around them. As SAAC President, Whitlock spearheaded the athletic department's efforts when SOTX athletes came to Concordia home events. She helped organize several activities ranging from a unified basketball scrimmage, volleyball serving contest and introductions as well as autograph sessions at baseball and softball games.

Chmura, who began his position as Sports Information Director in November 2010, began volunteering as the official scorekeeper at the Special Olympics Texas Area 13 softball league over the summer of 2011 and also took on the role of serving as the competition director for what would be the first-ever SOTX flag football competition in the entire state. He had Concordia student-athletes from the baseball, men's and women's basketball teams play an active role as key volunteers at the event on Oct. 1, 2011, which included three games and an individual skills competition. The baseball players served as referees, while the basketball players filled practically all of the other non-medical volunteer roles such as scorekeeping, timekeeping and being runners and chasers. The flag football competition served as a kickoff event between the two programs before SOTX athletes attended a Concordia home volleyball match 17 days later.

Whitlock and Chmura also worked together to secure Concordia student-athletes as volunteers at several Special Olympics competitions in the Austin area over the course of the 2011-12 academic year, which included having over 50 members from the baseball, softball and volleyball teams help out at a bowling event. All in all, hundreds of Concordia and Special Olympics athletes supported each other at games and competitions as many as several times a month to begin what has already been a very successful partnership.

As the unique relationship between both groups continues to grow, soccer player Whitlock will be serving as the school's SAAC President for her second term and oversee the Athletes for Athletes program as a senior during the 2012-13 academic year. Chmura plans on volunteering at the local SOTX softball league over the upcoming summer and has made the commitment to serve as competition director for the next SOTX flag football competition, which is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 1, 2012. He will look to staff it across the board with Concordia student-athletes again.

Special Olympics Texas Area 13, which is also known as the Central Texas area, is made up of 4,558 athletes from Bastrop, Blanco, Burnet, Caldwell, Colorado, Comal, Dewitt, Fayette, Gillespie, Gonzalez, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, Lavaca, Lee, Llano, Travis and Williamson counties.

-Courtesy Concordia University Texas Sports Information Department