By Erin Holloway, Special Olympics Athlete Leader

 

Chaka Sutton is the Chief Outreach Officer and Senior Vice President of Sports. He has been working at Special Olympics Colorado for nearly 30 years. I remember when Chaka first came to Special Olympics Colorado. I met him at State Winter Games and he didn’t like the snow or the cold! He was so warm and friendly that he was fun to be around. We became instant friends and have stayed great friends throughout the years. Even if I don’t get to see him very often, it’s always great catching up when I do get the chance to see him.

Chaka’s passion and dedication for Special Olympics has created so many opportunities for not just athletes, but also people in the community. I had the opportunity to talk with Chaka and learn more about all of the ways he’s been involved with Special Olympics throughout his career.

 

Erin: My first question I would like to ask is, when did you first get involved with Special Olympics?

Chaka: I first got involved when I was in high school, and that was a long, long time ago. My mom used to help with our Special Olympics team at our school in my town and then when I went to college, my college team used to volunteer, so I did that.

And then I moved to Colorado in 1995 and in 1996, I was looking to volunteer. Back then, you had to send a resume in to volunteer. So I filled out the paperwork and sent my resume in. Scott Weaver saw it, and he called me and said, “Hey, would you ever be interested in working in Special Olympics?” And I was like, “Sure.”

So I came down and had an interview, and I started working in Special Olympics Colorado in February of 1996. I used to do coaches’ education and outreach. So 1996 was my first job, but I probably started really volunteering in 1987.

 

Erin: What made you decide to be involved?

Chaka: I think I just liked it. I had a sports background and I always wanted to help people. When I learned about Special Olympics and had been volunteering, I saw how much sports helped people in their lives, and I was like, this would be perfect for me to be able to do. So that’s what got me started, and I think that’s where I got the bug to do it. I saw how much people love sports and how much sports can help the athletes at Special Olympics. So that’s what got me going.

 

Erin: That’s pretty cool. What has inspired you the most since getting involved with Special Olympics?

Chaka: I think the one thing that inspires me the most is seeing – I mean, I’ve known you since I started – and I think seeing athletes who I’ve had the opportunity to coach, the opportunity to know and become friends with, seeing them just excel in life, and knowing that I had a small part in that makes me keep going. I think that inspires me to keep doing what I’m doing. It may be a small part, but I know that I’ve touched some lives in a small piece.

 

Erin: What do you like best about working with Special Olympics?

Chaka: What I like best about Special Olympics, there’s so many things. I think the staff here is like – I’m probably the oldest person here now – but they’re all like one big family, and they all work for the same goal, and that goal is to make sure that all our athletes can succeed in whatever they try.

And then I think the other piece that I like is I enjoy talking to family members and caregivers of a lot of our athletes, and just hearing them talk about how much of an impact Special Olympics makes on their lives. I mean, it lets me know that what I’m doing is worthwhile and what I’m doing is impacting a lot of people.

 

Erin: And what has been your favorite memory of Special Olympics?

Chaka: Besides playing golf with you, let me see.

Probably my favorite memory, I think going to my first World Games in 1999. I was the golf coach and a [Unified] partner, me and Tim Sharpe were [Unified] partners, and I think that was probably my favorite experience. I was his coach, but I was his partner, and he was a good friend of mine. We had fun that trip and to see him excel at the biggest stage and then me being there with him as his partner and us getting our silver medal and being on stage. I mean, that was probably my best memory.

 

Erin: How did you decide to become involved with Unified Champion Schools?

Chaka: I’ve worked here almost 30 years, and probably 17-18 years ago is when Unified Champion Schools started. But before then, I always had a passion for working with education and with schools, and when Unified Champion Schools came along, it was my opportunity to mesh my love for working with schools and educators with my love for Special Olympics, and it was a perfect fit. The first school we talked to was Grandview High School, and going into a school like that and talking about Unified Champion Schools and them saying, “Yes, we want to do it here. We’ll try it,” and then seeing the impact that it’s had at that school and numerous schools after that, I mean, I just fell in love with it, and I’ve been in love with it ever since.

Erin: What is your involvement in the Unified Champion Schools program?

Chaka: Right now, I’m our Chief Outreach Officer and Senior Vice President of Sports and Schools, so I oversee the team that manages the day-to-day operations of Unified Champion Schools. I’m not in the schools every day as much, but I work a lot with Superintendents and District Directors of Education to make sure that they know about Unified Champion Schools and they have the opportunity to implement it within their school district. So I work a lot at that level. I also work with our high school association from the sports side and letting them know about Unified Sports and how it can impact what they’re doing from a sports level.

 

Erin: How has Unified Champion Schools program grown since you’ve been involved?

Chaka: Well, we started with 1 school, and we have 770 now, almost 800 schools. I think the way it’s grown the most is that when we first started, I did a lot of traveling in my car, knocking on school doors, saying, “Hey, have you heard of this Unified Champion Schools thing before?” Now, it’s the opposite.

Schools call us and say, “Hey, we want to get involved in Unified Champion Schools,” and it’s not just a program within the school, it’s the culture of schools that we’ve seen that has changed. Now, schools are being more inclusive. They’re making sure that everybody in that school building has the opportunity to participate in something, be it sports, be it band, Unified Band, be it theater, be it just a club, a Unified Club. But they make sure that every student has the opportunity to do that, and I think Unified Champion Schools has been the catalyst to make that change and make those schools be what they are today. Much better, more welcoming for everyone.

 

Erin: What other ways are you involved with Special Olympics on a national level?

Chaka: I am the Sport Resource Advisory Council Special Olympics North American representative, so I oversee the implementation of all new rule changes worldwide that I represent in North America, so if you come to me and say, “Hey, I want to change the rule of golf from a birdie being three strokes to a birdie being four strokes,” then that comes through me and I take it to a committee and we oversee those rules. So I’m on that.

I am one of the directors of our Special Olympics USA national team that oversees the national team that participates in all the World Games that happen. I am one of the Unified Champion Schools National Trainers that teaches new Special Olympics staff about Unified Champion Schools when they come on board.

I’m one of the technical directors for the sport of flag football here in North America. So I help run all the flag football events at USA Games and some of our national games that we have.

What else? That might be about it. I know I’m on the Global Unified Sports Advisory Committee, so we kind of oversee Unified Sports and Special Olympics around the world, making sure that the rules are adhered to and that there’s any changes and we’re making sure that Unified Sports are at the forefront of what’s going on in Special Olympics. So that might be about it.

 

Erin: You’ve done a lot on the national level. Wow, that’s pretty impressive. Were you the World Games Head of Delegation?

Chaka: I have been in the 2023 Berlin Games and this past [World Winter] Games 2025 in Italy. So the 2023 World Summer Games, I was one of the Heads of Delegation for the Special Olympics USA national team, and the 2025 World Winter Games in Italy, I was one of the Heads of Delegation for that team as well. So big honor, and I was excited to do it and it was lifelong memories. It was a great team to be a part of.

 

Erin: How did you get involved as Head of Delegation?

Chaka: I’ve been an assistant coach, a coach, a Unified partner. We’ve hosted several USA training camps here at Copper Mountain and other places. And I think just being a part of it, and then I applied to be a part of the management team, which is what it’s called, and I was accepted. I’ve been a part of that management team for 4 World Games, and 2 of those, I’ve been 1 of the Heads of Delegation. So like I say, I’ve worked my way from the bottom to the top.

 

Erin: What is your role as Head of Delegation?

Chaka: The past 2 World Games, I’ve been in charge of Host Town, which is if you go to a World Games, the week before the actual Games, they have what’s called a Host Town experience, where you visit the towns and communities where the Games are hosted. So I’m in charge of setting that up – that’s what practice is, lodging, etc. I’m also in charge of our team trials, so before you are selected to the actual World Games team, you have to go to a team selection trial, and I managed that team selection trial the past 2 games. Then I work with all of our families, as well, at the Games, making sure families are registered, they have their lodging taken care of, and once they get there they know all the schedules and where everything’s at. So I do those three components as a part of Head of Delegation.

 

Erin: How does it feel to be among such a diverse group of athletes?

Chaka: It’s been awesome. It’s been great. I get to meet so many athletes who are so highly skilled, but they’re also just great people and they make every day – days are long, there’s a lot of travel, everybody’s tired – but I think just seeing the excitement on our athletes’ faces and talking to them, they cheer you up and make you feel like you have all the energy in the world because you know what you’re doing. You’re doing it for them.

 

Erin: And what inspires you to keep doing what you do?

Chaka: Every day that’s something new. I was just at our State Gymnastics this past Saturday and a parent came to me and said, “Thank you for everything that you do for Special Olympics.” He wasn’t just talking about me, he was talking about Special Olympics the staff and the team and the volunteers because this gives his daughter the opportunity to showcase her gymnastic skills at a high level in front of all these people. She gets to showcase everything she’s been practicing for, and if it wasn’t for Special Olympics that wouldn’t be possible. So I think that lets me know that what I’m doing, I need to continue to do that because every day there’s somebody like that parent that has value and sees the value of Special Olympics. [They need] us, [they] actually need us, [they] need what we’re doing.

 

Erin: And what goals do you have for the future of Special Olympics?

Chaka: From Unified Champion Schools, I said that I need to get 1,000 schools before I think about retiring. Alright, so I’m going to do that, that’s 1. The other one is 30,000 athletes, we’re at like 28,000 now, I believe. And I said I want to go to 1 more World Games before. That’s my goal is to go to 1 more World Games. I don’t know which one it will be, but I want to go to 1 more.

 

Erin: That’s pretty cool, and what would you like to see continue to grow?

Chaka: When we look at Special Olympics, we talk a lot about our World Games and our National Games. I want to continue to see our State Games and our Regional, our smaller competitions, continue to grow because not everybody wants to participate at World Games or National Games. But everybody loves to participate at our Regional events because that’s the first opportunity that they get to go to a competition. I would love to see those to continue to grow. I would love to see us continue to have newer teams. We have a lot of younger athletes who are leaving school and looking for things to do, so I’d love to see our community programs continue to grow. They’ve grown by leaps and bounds over the past 5 years, I want to see that continue as well.

 

Erin: And that’s all the questions I have for you.

Chaka: Awesome, great.

Erin: Thank you.