BY MICHELE MILLER
What’s What New Port Richey
Published August 4, 2020
“It’s been an amazing career. I couldn’t have planned it any better.”
Val Lundin
In normal times there are ways to ease that transition from a long-time career to retirement. Something that starts with a celebratory gathering featuring cake, “over-the-years” slideshows and the sharing of heartfelt feelings capped with handshakes and hugs.
But these days are different.
For Val Lundin, who recently retired from her position as director of Special Olympics Florida – Pasco County, her recent retirement feels like an unfinished ending.
“In a way, it feels like a typical summer,” Lundin said in a recent telephone interview, adding. “I struggled a little in May with the shutdown of schools, my career ending and not being able to be able to say goodbye to the people I worked with or to the athletes.”
A throng of well-wishers did come out for a retirement parade in her neighborhood on the last day of school, an event that left her in a puddle of tears.
“They had to have the sheriff shut down the road for it. It was amazing, quite humbling, and really cool,” she said. “I think I was dehydrated I cried so much.”
“It’s been an amazing career,” she said. “I couldn’t have planned it any better.”
Lundin’s entry into the world of teaching children with special needs wasn’t planned at all.
“It was accidental,” she said. It was an out-of-the-blue offering to take another avenue that would change life’s trajectory in a humbling, gratifying and inspiring way.
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Lundin’s early years were spent living the nomadic lifestyle of a military brat. Her father was a fighter pilot who served in the Marine Corps for 33 years. The family moved about to various military bases stationed along the coastlines of California, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Pensacola, Florida.
She graduated from Gulf Breeze High School. A basketball scholarship took her to the University of South Alabama until a knee injury in her freshman sidelined her for a time.
Lundin returned to Florida to stay with her parents while healing. While there she landed a softball scholarship to Edison Community College (now Florida SouthWestern State College). She later completed her undergrad studies at the University of South Florida.
Her first job in education was as an instructional assistant at Lacoochee Elementary School in Dade City, a Title 1 School in an impoverished area.
“That was an amazing year,” said Lundin. “It set some foundation for what I did later, working with the population that I did.”
Athletics was still her passion, but coaching jobs were hard to come by. A mentor suggested she apply for a graduate assistantship at USF in Adaptive P.E.
“I had to ask, ‘What’s that?” said Lundin, who ended up with the position, a master’s degree in Adaptive P.E. and a whole new outlook.
“During that year I really got the feeling that I could make a difference. I loved being able to teach that kid to play kickball or hit that ball – being able to adapt things so they could meet their potential and be successful was really gratifying,” Lundin said.
“It ended up being my niche. I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.”
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In 1984 Lundin was hired at then Richey Fundamental School (now Richey Elementary) to oversee the special needs program housed there.
“I had students from ages 3 to 21 in that elementary school,” she said.
Ten years later the program moved to the newly opened Cotee River Elementary. There Lundin taught Adaptive P.E. She also served as a co-director for Special Olympics for West Pasco, before taking on the Special Olympics Florida – Pasco directorship for both sides of the county full-time.
The year-round Special Olympics program features 18 different sports, with competitions held throughout the year. A big draw each year is the summer games held at River Ridge and Wesley Chapel High Schools, complete with opening ceremonies that include a torch run and athlete parade.
Throughout her tenure, Lundin also coached adults in west Pasco in basketball, golf and other sports while recruiting volunteers and coaches for soccer and flag football.
“She always went above and beyond,” said Melodie Johnson, a retired PE teacher who worked alongside Lundin at Richey Fundamental and Cotee River Elementary until her retirement in 2016.
Lundin took care of details big and small, spending countless hours organizing events and making sure all athletes had rides and chaperones for local and state competitions, Johnson said.
“They all came home winners whether the ribbon was blue, red or yellow,” she said. “She made sure they all felt like they achieved something.”
“She wasn’t just their teacher, she was a mentor and their champion,” Johnson said. ‘She taught them life skills and the right way to be social.”
Each year for Halloween Lundin took students to an adjacent assisted living facility to trick or treat, but also to socialize with that population, Johnson recalled. She organized an annual student talent show and Thanksgiving feast for students and families.
“She had Christmas parties where she made sure everyone had gifts and the chance to sit on Santa’s lap,” Johnson said. “Her passion was her kids and she loved every one of her students like they were her own flesh and blood.”
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For many athletes and their parents, Lundin was a constant from elementary years to adulthood and through joyous and difficult times.
Greg Konrad, 31 has been competing for 23 years in a multitude of sports – basketball skills, team basketball, 3-on-3 basketball, team soccer, soccer skills, both singles and pairs bowling, team softball, track & field, and pairs bocce.
“Coach Val is the most wonderful coach and director we ever had,” said Greg, who was named Pasco County Special Olympic Athlete of the Year in 2008.
“It’s a family thing,” said Greg’s mom, Barbara Konrad, who with her husband, Jim, is a long-time volunteer.
“Val has always had a passion for Special Olympics and our kids,” she wrote in an email. “It has been our pleasure to be a part of this organization in Pasco County under Val’s direction for 23 years as a family, while being volunteers as well as Greg being an athlete. We would not change this experience for anything in the world. Our hope is that this organization will strive for the excellence it has maintained for so many years before under Val’s leadership. Those are very big shoes to fill.”
“Val Lundin always had the best interests of our Special Olympics team members,” said Adrienne Zampella, a school district employee whose late daughter Amanda, attended Cotee River Elementary and River Ridge Middle School, where a butterfly garden was erected in her honor. “I especially remember how kind she was to always accommodate my special needs daughter in participating not only in Special Olympics but in Adaptive P.E. class.”
Lundin’s pet projects include recruiting athletes to participate in the Athlete Leadership Program and the roll-out of the Young Athletes Program. That 8-week sports development program is geared to youngsters aged 2 to 7, and provides training and equipment for athletes not old enough to compete in the Special Olympics.
“I just thought it was so important to get our young athletes ready for competition and get the parent involved so they could see what was available for their kids as they got older,” Lundin said.
While officially retired, Lundin is still hearing from athletes and their parents who are “on pins and needles” about restarting the program. She plans to serve as a volunteer in the future when the timing is right.
Over the summer months, athletes would typically be immersed in paddle board, golf and swimming training and competitions. But with COVID-19 restrictions and concerns, athletes were encouraged to train via daily curriculum posted on the Special Olympics Florida – Pasco County Facebook page.
“It’s very hard for them because this is their life,” Lundin said. “But a lot of our athletes have underlying health issues. We want to do it safely.”
Special Olympics is a part of the routine for so many with special needs, said Lundin, noting that some of the kids she taught as preschoolers still compete as adults now.
“They are working in our schools, holding jobs and a couple are even fathers. And they are still competing as Special Olympians,” she said.
It’s the kind of reflection that perhaps makes it easier to move forward. To count blessings. Take account of what you have learned along the way.
“As I look back I really believe that they taught me a lot more than I taught them,” Lundin said. “They taught me patience and about keeping it simple. Sometimes with their challenges, you had to learn to step back and just let it unfold and that’s a wonderful thing.”
“Love comes so easy to them,” she said. “As we get older and kind of hardened in life, they taught me love should be easy.”
