Faith Mayer Named 2022 Coach of the Year

Faith Mayer from Vanderburg County is the 2022 Spirit of Special Olympics Indiana Coach of the Year award winner.

Presented during the annual state conference, the Spirit of Special Olympics Indiana awards recognize the athletes, coaches, volunteers, families and Law Enforcement Torch Run officers who have gone above and beyond in their contributions to the Special Olympics movement. Area management teams submit nominations and the winners are selected by Special Olympics Indiana’s board of directors.

The following details were submitted in Faith’s nomination letter from Area 10:

“Faith graduated high school in May 2022 and is now a freshman at the University of Evansville. While in high school, she caried a near 4.0 GPA and was a two-sport athlete. She has dedicated as much time as possible the Special Olympics organization for the last five years.

“Starting is middle school, Faith was a Unified Track volunteer for her seventh and eighth grade years. She then decided to become a Class-A Volunteer and would coach as many days out of the year as possible.

“In the fall of 2018, Faith was an assistant softball coach. She coached alongside two other coached to learn how the organization was ran. Soon she became a head coach for basketball, track and field, corn hole and swimming. In the spring of 2022, she coached a state gold medalists team in basketball.

“While Faith does not have a family member who is an athlete, she continues to coach. She says, “Giving the athletes something to look forward to during their week is something that brings my heart an incredible amount of joy. All the athletes I interact with feel like family to me and I will continue to treat them as such.”

“During her time as a coach, she has made an incredible number of friends among athlete, parents and staff. Faith has participated in the Polar Plunge and has bonded with athletes and donors from other organizations. Faith hopes to continue making an impact on athletes and caregivers through the rest of her time as a coach.

“Faith Mayer is one of the most selfless and sweetest teenagers we have come across in a long time.”