Shrewsbury resident coaches Sharks, supports Special Olympics
By Ken Powers Contributing Writer
Shrewsbury - Roy Sommer leads a double life. Between September and April each year he coaches professional hockey. He has spent the last two years as head coach of Worcester's American Hockey League (AHL) team, the Sharks. He is the elder statesman of the AHL, as this will be his 10th year behind the bench.

Coach Roy Sommer with his team PHOTO/KEN POWERS

A key component of his position as a head coach is to make the two dozen players on his team realize how special they are and to make them realize they are among the best in the world at what they do.

In those rare moments during the season that Roy is able to get away from the ice and the rink and the team and all the demands that come with being a head hockey coach, as well as during the always-tooshort off-season, he spends time teaching one very special young man - his 16-year-old son Marley - that he's just a regular guy.

"That's all kids like Mo want, you know," Roy said as he sat next to his son recently and referred to him by his nickname. "To be treated like everyone else. To be just another guy. That's the biggest thing to them - to be treated as equals."

Roy Sommer with his son, Marley PHOTO/KEN POWERS

Marley Sommer - and yes, he is named for reggae singer Bob Marley, but that's a story for another day - has special needs.

"He got whacked twice," Roy said, sounding like the coach he is. "First they diagnosed that he had Down Syndrome, then they came back to us and told us he has some autistic tendencies, too."

Long before he was told his son had Down Syndrome and autism, Special Olympics was something that captivated and aff ected Roy Sommer.

"I remember one time when I was playing I was asked to help out at a Special Olympics track meet," Roy said. "I spent the weekend as the guide for a blind girl who was a high jumper. She was amazing. She had such a passion for life. She didn't see herself as someone who had a disability.

"She'd attempt to complete the high jump, to clear the bar, and she'd run right through it," he said. "And then she'd bounce back up and say, 'I'll get it this time.' And she'd work at it, and work at it, and work at it, and when she got it, the smile on her face and the way she beamed was worth a million bucks. And it wasn't so much because she cleared the bar, it was because clearing the bar gave her a chance to be treated like a normal person."

Roy believes more people would get involved in Special Olympics if they just did one simple thing.

"Go one time," he said, "go once and you'll go again. You won't be able to get those kids out of your head."

Marley is a student at Shrewsbury High School and a manager for coach Terry Walles and the Colonials varsity football team. Roy said that has been a godsend for his son.

"It's something we started doing in Cleveland, because Mo is such a sports nut, and we've continued it here," Roy said. "He's part of the scene, part of the school.

"He walks down the halls and all the football guys see him and yell to him and highfive him. These are the cool kids and they're saying hi to him," Roy said. "They have no idea how much they're doing for him by doing that. They have no idea how big that is for him. They have no idea what a huge impact that has on his life. They're treating him like just another guy on the team.

"And that's all he wants them to do."