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For some people taking part Saturday in Special Olympics Indiana’s Polar Plunge at Center Lake in Warsaw, it was their first time. For others, it was their fifth, sixth or 11th time.
Brenna Blazek was with a group of six from Edgewood Middle School.
“We have a couple special ed. teachers, our treasurer, our administrative assistant and then I’m the school nurse,” she said. “We thought it was a really good cause and we’re all just a little bit crazy enough to get out here and do the plunge. This will be my fifth Polar Plunge and I convinced everybody to join us,” Blazek stated.
Nicole Landon was doing the Plunge for a fourth time. “We work at a middle school and we’re all a little crazy,” she explained of why she’s done it so many times.
The Edgewood team also won the best costume contest. To make sure they won, they came up with the shirt design and a school counselor recommended the tutus.
“Just something really fun and bragging rights for the kids on Monday when we go back to school,” Blazek said.
John Schulz was taking the plunge with a group from Zimmer Biomet, while his wife was doing it with Parkview.
“It’s for a great cause in terms of Special Olympics, and then my wife - when we were in a fraternity and sorority in college - we also always helped with Special Olympics on that end. But then we have a lot of friends that are also helping participate and setting this up so we wanted to make sure we showed our support,” he said.
Alanna Maynard was with the Parkview Hospital group, consisting of three different departments, of about 11 total plungers. She and the rest of the group from the therapy department wore shirts stating, “Polar Plunge Is Our Therapy.”
“We just wanted to help out a good cause and it sounded like a fun group activity,” she said.
While Maynard couldn’t plunge herself this year, next year she said she planned to do it. “I think everybody’s excited. A little nervous, but excited to get it going,” she said.
Tara Clark, Warsaw Polar Plunge chair, said Saturday’s event benefitted Special Olympics locally and statewide.
“There are 20 plunges that happen throughout the state, but the money that’s raised through all of them gets distributed to the programs throughout the state. So it does directly benefit our county programs, but it’s still supporting the state level, too,” she explained.
It’s been a few years since the last Special Olympics Polar Plunge took place in Warsaw.
Speaking about why it’s returned to the area, Clark said, “Special Olympics is just something I’m really passionate about. It’s something that I’ve been involved in since high school. So since I’ve moved out here recently, I saw an opportunity to bring this back to the community since they don’t have one here and I loved doing the Polar Plunges where I’m from. So that’s kind of what inspired me to bring it back here, and just bring more awareness to the county programs.”
The Polar Plunges are Special Olympics Indiana’s largest fundraiser. From the last weekend in January to the first weekend in March, there’s Plunges happening every weekend throughout the state.
Before Saturday’s event, Clark said they had 100 people registered to plunge. Some people who register don’t show up, and there’s also people who register on the day of the event, so she wasn’t sure what the final tally of plungers was going to be.
“We have a good amount plunging,” she stated.
To take part, each person had to raise at least $125. There were incentive prizes at different fundraising levels for anyone who raised more than that, such as cups, backpacks, etc.
If people signed up as a team, Clark kept them together for their plunge unless they were too big and then they were split up into smaller groups. Teams took to the water first, followed by individuals.
For safety purposes, as a precaution, the Warsaw dive team was in the lake.
After taking the plunge and changing back to dry clothes, Max Hultquist, who is 6 feet, 5 inches, said, “I’m pretty tall so I ran out to the end and got up to my waist. It wasn’t too bad, and then got some dry clothes on and now I’m warm.”
It was his first time taking the plunge.
“A couple people dove in, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it,” he stated.
Dillon Herried said the plunge wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be, but “not easy” at the same time.
“But amazing. For a good cause and we had a great team out here today. We were able to raise a lot of money for a good cause. So, overall, a very positive, great experience,” Herried said.
His team was the Gusa Family and Friends, which totaled eight people. It was everyone’s first plunge except one, Maverick, who has plunged a couple times.
“Absolutely,” Herried said of returning in 2027. “We’re going to make a tradition out of this. I’m going to get more people to come next year. So I’m going to get my other younger brother, my younger sister, so I’m going to try to make it a family tradition.”
The “Three Amigos” included Chris Holsclaw, Jason Langhorn and Scott Rodewald.
“This was my first time and it was awesome. I wasn’t expecting the water to be that cold, but it was great. I’ve done it,” Holsclaw said.
“This was my 11th year plunging for the Special Olympics, and I swear this is the coldest it’s ever been. I’ve plunged in some cold, but I don’t know how they got the water that cold today,” Langhorn stated.
He used to be the chair for the Warsaw Polar Plunge many years ago. For the last few years, he’s been plunging and volunteering in Fort Wayne.
“Jason was talking about it one day at a function of ours in our neighborhood and I was just like, ‘I’ll do it!’ I’m not going to back down, I thought it was a great opportunity to do something I’ve never done before,” Holsclaw said of how he got involved in the Polar Plunge this year.
Both Holsclaw and Langhorn said they’ll do it again next year.
That’s the support Special Olympics can use to keep supporting its athletes, and not just on the courts and fields.
Clark said, “Special Olympics provides all the athlete opportunities, so I think what most people know about Special Olympics is that there’s all the sports programs they can participate in. But, I think it’s also important to know that it’s providing leadership opportunities for them. It’s providing socialization. It’s giving them opportunities to work on communication. There’s so much more that Special Olympics is giving them than a place to play basketball.”
If anyone missed the Polar Plunge on Saturday, they can still support the Special Olympics.
“Donations can still come in through March, but our county programs exist yearlong so just going to the Special Olympics Indiana website, to the county that they live in, there’s going to be the contact (information) for the county coordinator on there. If there’s a sport they’re passionate about, they always need coaches, they need partners for the athletes,” Clark said. “The goal is that this Plunge happens every year, so we have an event Facebook page, just following on that for when we release the next dates so they can take part in the Plunge next year.”
Special Olympics Indiana is a nonprofit organization that is part of the global Special Olympics movement, created by the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation for the benefit of persons with intellectual disabilities. Its vision is an inclusive world, driven by the power of sport, through which people with intellectual disabilities live active, healthy and fulfilling lives, according to a previous news release.
