Fairfield Flaming Marshmallows are state bound again

After three first place finishes by Cannon Putnam, Ian Jones and Dorotea Orgovanyi at the Special Olympics State Basketball Tournament in Iowa City, the Fairfield Flaming Marshmallows Youth Special Olympics Team are again heading to State, this time in Ames.

The ‘Mallows, as they are affectionately called by their fans, closed out the Southeast Regional Track and Field competition on Saturday, April 11 at Schaeffer Stadium in Ottumwa, with medals all around, qualifying them for the State Summer Games in May.

Cannon Putnam, age 19, received first place in the 200 Meter Dash and Softball Throw. Ian Jones, age 13, received first place in the Softball Throw and 2nd place in the 100 Meter Dash. Dorotea Orgovanyi, age 14, received first place in the Softball Throw and 50 Meter Dash. All first-place finishes will compete at Iowa Special Olympics Summer Games, May 19-21.

The ‘Mallows are coached by Janel Orgovanyi and Lisa Phillips with help from parents and volunteers. We are so fortunate to have parents who help at every practice as the ‘Mallows hone their skills. Matt Jones, parent and Vice Principal at FMS, has been especially wonderful. He has helped coach our team in Basketball and Track & Field this year.

We coaches rely on volunteers to find the best fit for whatever sport we compete, and Matt has been great spreading his passion for sports to help out our ‘Mallows be the best they can, and it shows. Our last two seasons really showed the hard work the Mallows, volunteers and coaches put into the season with medals all around.

We also recruited Gabor Orgovanyi this year to introduce soccer to the team. Dorotea, his daughter, has been waiting (semi) patiently to play soccer for years as she sat on the sidelines watching her dad coach her sister and then compete at FHS. Special Olympics is amazing in a way that it takes all those kids who are normally spectators and fans and helps them become athletes.

Cannon, Ian and Dorotea are so excited to go to the Summer Games this year where their hard work and first place finishes qualified them to compete at the State level. It will be great to really experience it for the first time. Ian and Dorotea will also be competing in Soccer at the Summer Games.

These kids are amazing. Here they are competing and so happy to be a part of something. The smiles on their faces are contagious. It is rewarding being a part of something that takes kids that normally don’t have the opportunity to compete, be a part of something and have their fans cheer them on.

We are so thankful for our parents, volunteers, and the local community, that has helped make this possible by donating their time or equipping our team with much needed equipment. It is our goal to supply the experience and equipment at no cost to the athlete. Our local community has really helped this year from purchasing bowling ramps, balls, and a full Beeper Ball set with bases and balls, to make sure all our athletes, at all levels, can compete.

It’s been a long two years with no competitions. Due to COVID, like the rest of the world, we were put on hold and were not able to compete. Many of our athletes are at greater risk and some are still on the sidelines waiting for when they are healthy enough to compete. It’s always an issue making sure our athletes are healthy enough to compete and practice. It’s great we have those that can compete now. We are looking forward when the entire team can be with us.

This year has really been a growing year for the Youth Team. We know that it’s important in the community to have such an amazing organization at both the Youth and Adult level. We’ve focused our efforts in growing our equipment and experience. In the Fall, as our oldest athlete moves to the adult level, we will be opening our team to welcome local adults as well. Bowling will be their first event and it’s always the favorite for all. We’ve even been lucky enough to have two parents, volunteer to coach the adult team; Strider and Tonya Putnam. They are already busy getting certified and working on adding more sports to our repertoire.

Adding an adult team comes with a lot more responsibilities and we have been studying how larger teams work so we can provide what is needed. We’ve seen teams, like Ottumwa, who have over 100 athletes registered, make it work. Fairfield has the need; we just need to provide it.

Youth Teams have the advantage of parents volunteering and transporting the athletes. Adult Teams rely more on the local community to volunteer. Transportation and practice areas also become an issue with adult teams to make sure your athletes can get to practice and competition. However, these are all just hurdles we know our local community will help us jump over as we grow our local team.

We welcome any athlete in Fairfield and the surrounding area to come join our team and be a part of the ‘Mallows. If you would like to know more about the Fairfield Flaming Marshmallows, how to join or how to help, we encourage you to reach out to coach Janel Orgovanyi at 641-233-8295.