Big Train welcomes renowned guests for Tribute to Special Olympics

Thea LaFond by Mark Thalman

ROCKVILLE, Md. — In Game 2 of Sunday’s doubleheader at Shirley Povich Field, the Bethesda Big Train hosted a Tribute to Special Olympics, welcoming a number of decorated guests to celebrate.

One of the three featured attendees was Olympic gold medalist Thea LaFond, who became the first Olympian to take home gold for Dominica, the country in which she was born. LaFond, who grew up in Montgomery County, claimed victory in the triple jump at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She said she made many impactful memories along the way.

“Whether they are good or bad, they are always with you for the rest of your life, and they make the story so much more worth it,” LaFond said. “Like, okay, yeah, maybe a cardboard frame bed and a plastic mattress isn’t the most comfortable. But to be honest, I think one thing that has stuck with me is truly how powerful the Olympic spirit is.”

“I mean, my country is so tiny, right? 70,000 people,” she said. “But the way everyone there is just so happy for you, no matter what, whether they wave your flag or not, that’s always super special.”

LaFond with fans by Mark Thalman

Along with her awe-inspiring athletic achievements, LaFond also has a background in special education.

“I taught special education for about six years,” she said. “I think one of my greatest feelings is being able to allow these kids, these students, to leave high school feeling more independent, more capable. So often, they’re told so much that they can’t do, but allowing them to have an environment where they’re enabled is the best thing ever.”

“I just ran into one of my students yesterday who was so excited to tell me that he has a job and a car and a place to live,” LaFond said. “He was just so proud of him doing so much more than people had thought he would possibly do.”

LaFond was inducted into the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame in 2025. Upon arriving at Game 2 for the Big Train, she took numerous pictures with fans, practiced for her ceremonial first pitch and stayed to watch the entire contest.

LaFond alongside fans and Special Olympics athletes by Mark Thalman

LaFond played catch and talked with Joe Yasharoff — the News Director of Montgomery Community Media and a University of Maryland adjunct professor — before the first pitch ceremonies. Yasharoff said got involved with the Montgomery County Sports Hall of Fame as a part of its inaugural team in 2019.

“I’ve grown up in Montgomery County and love Montgomery County, and there’s so many athletes and so many coaches and so many great stories,” he said. “It needed to be told, and we needed to recognize all these people.”

“It was just an exciting opportunity for me," Yasharoff said. “When they asked me [to get involved], I said ‘yes’ before they had finished the question.”

Yasharoff (right) and Bruce Adams by Mark Thalman

Yasharoff said LaFond’s story was one he was particularly happy to honor.

“She’s the best in the world, and she was a Montgomery County teacher,” he said. “That’s an incredible story, and so those are the kinds of stories that I think need to be told.”

The Big Train also welcomed John Bogasky, the Treasurer and Coach for Special Olympics Maryland. Bogasky has been involved since 2018, helping to lead the state’s biggest sports organization for those with intellectual disabilities. He said the group is fully volunteer-based, utilizing local funds to make an impact on the community.

“We have nearly 600 athletes in Montgomery County,” Bogasky said. “But people don’t understand it’s a year-round program. People sometimes ask me, ‘When is the Special Olympics?’ and [I] say, ‘It’s every Saturday.’”

“It’s not the real Olympics with all that competition,” he said. “For many of our athletes, it’s like a family to them. These are their friends and their peers, and they get to hang out with them, and then they do things outside of Special Olympics. And we try to do social things that are not just our events, so Big Train is a big help with that, because this is an event we get to do.”

Bogasky by Mark Thalman

Similarly, Yasharoff said attending the night’s game was important to him for multiple reasons.

“The Sports Hall of Fame is interconnected with Big Train and the kinds of things they do,” he said. “The other thing is, my brother has Down syndrome. He’s nonverbal, never spoken a word in his life. So for me personally, being a part of anything that the Special Olympics does is near and dear to my heart.”

Bogasky said doing work with the Special Olympics creates rewarding experiences that happen all the time.

“I can think of times where we’ve trained and trained and trained, and after five years, you see the athlete learn the skill,” he said. “And I can think of times when we’ve seen parents in tears, because they see their child suddenly doing something they didn’t think was possible.”

With multiple Special Olympics athletes in attendance, it was truly a night of fun and celebration at Shirley Povich Field. The Big Train’s next theme will be Women in Sports Night, taking place on Wednesday at 7 p.m. against the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts.