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Sports

Hightstown High School Grad Working for Special Olympics NJ

Lillian Narvaez is in her 24th year on the job.

People often choose the career they want. Then again, sometimes the career chooses them.

Consider Lillian Narvaez a first round draft choice by New Jersey Special Olympics.

Narvaez, a 1981 Hightstown High graduate, went to Alderson Broaddus College in West Virginia with the intention of becoming a nurse.

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The things was, Narvaez was a heck of an athlete. She was the Female Athlete of the Year in her senior year at Hightstown. She continued to play basketball in college.

"When I realized I would always have sports in my life, I switched my major to recreation," Narvaez noted.

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Of course, there was still that nursing side of Narvaez. She cared about other people, wanted them to be healthy and happy.

After graduating college, she worked a year at The ARC Mercer. This organization provides advocasy and resources for citizens with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. While there, Narvaez started to coach Special Olympic athletes.

"A year later, I joined the staff at Special Olympics New Jersey," Narvaez recalled. "They came and recruited me. They knew they were getting ready to expand the program and they asked me if I would be willing to come on the staff."

Narvaez began her career at Special Olympics New Jersey as a training director. She then moved to the position of competition director.

Then, 10 years ago, Narvaez took over her current role as Vice President of Sports for Special Olympics New Jersey.

When Narvaez was told the program was ready to expand, they weren't kidding her.

Special Olympics New Jersey has a large facility in Lawrenceville. It is a year round operation. Special Olympics offers cycling, equestrian, flag football, golf, soccer and volleyball in the fall. The winter season features alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, speed skating, snowboarding and snowshoeing. In the spring, the available sports are basketball, bowling and motor activities training. The recently completed summer season included aquatics, tennis, bocce, sailing, powerlifting, softball, gymnastics and track and field.

"It just keeps growing," noted Narvaez. "When I first started 24 years ago, we had about five or six thousand athletes. Now, we have over twenty two thousand athletes. We have over one hundred and sixty events. Back when I started, we had twenty events."

This past weekend, Narvaez was one of the thousands of people at The College of New Jersey, making sure the annual Summer Games went smoothly. There were more than 2,300 athletes competing. Thousands more volunteered or came to watch the events.

"I oversee and run the sports program for the twenty two thousand athletes," said Narvaez, who spent a lot of time in a golf cart over the weekend, driving from one competitive venue to another.

She smiled a lot. She waved a lot. She was busy and needed. She loved every second of it.

"It's twenty four years later, and I'm not regretting it one bit," Narvaez said.

Special Olympics programs are offered at no cost to individuals who qualify. For more information about Special Olympics New Jersey, call 609-896-8000 or visit www.sonj,org.


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