Billed as the largest humanitarian event in Florida history, the Special Olympics USA Games will arrive in Orlando 13 months from now and are expected to bring over 4,000 athletes, 10,000 volunteers and 125,000 spectators to the City Beautiful. Sanford’s own Brittany Tagliareni will almost certainly be one of the stars of the show, wowing fans both with her dominance on the tennis court and the joy she derives from playing. Her mother Cathy, meanwhile, will also find herself the center of attention—for a different reason.

The other parents always seem to seek out Cathy, whether it’s a local tournament, a national event or a competition on the other side of the world, and she is happy to answer any questions they have. These mothers and fathers of special needs children are in awe of Brittany’s athleticism, to be sure. But even more impressive is the confident woman she has become, comfortable hugging a fellow athlete, chatting with a young fan or interacting with anyone else clamoring for her time.

It has been about 13 years since Brittany first picked up a racket and almost 10 since she joined Special Olympics. Born with autism, along with several disorders that affect her language, motor skills and ability to learn certain movements, she was non-verbal until the age of 7 and still painfully shy even after starting to talk. But her participation in a sport she is passionate about and her involvement with an organization that has transformed countless lives since its inception in 1968 have had a profound impact on her.

“People don’t realize where Brittany came from and where she is today and what the opportunities from Special Olympics are,” Cathy Tagliareni says of her now 30-year-old daughter. “Everything revolves around Special Olympics for her—training, getting better and being able to compete better.

“I don’t think people even grasp what Special Olympics does—not only for the athletes but the families. It gives the athletes a life; it gives them a social network; it gives them peers who are not going to make fun of them, whether it’s another athlete, a unified partner, a coach, a volunteer or people who are coming to support them. The family is embraced, the athlete is embraced. Everybody is welcomed and just accepted for who they are.”

For Cathy Tagliareni and her husband, who have been told over and over again since Brittany was a young girl the things she would never be able to do, seeing her break new ground and surpass expectations has been just as life-changing for them as it has been for her. So when other families approach them and express doubt that their children could ever reach the same level, they stress that Special Olympics can help make it happen.

“Boy has she come a long way since being part of Special Olympics,” Cathy says. “She’s able to talk to people and be accepted for who she is and embraced. Imagine that feeling of being accepted. How many kids in the world today are looking for people to love them? That’s what Special Olympics is—it’s love.”

Brittany, a lefthander who rips both forehands and backhands with power and is fiercely competitive, often takes on male opponents for the challenge, like in 2019 when she became the first female to win the Xperience Special Olympics Invitational Tennis Tournament. Among her many other accomplishments are an ESPY Honorary Award in 2017, two gold medals at the most recent Special Olympics USA Games in 2018 and multiple silver medals at the Special Olympics World Games.

Not bad for someone who came to tennis late in her teens and had to work much harder than the average player.

“I followed my brother into tennis because he was really good and I wanted to be good like him,” she says of A.J., her younger sibling by two years. “It was super hard at first and my mom taught me at the tennis courts. I just took it one step at a time. It was a great feeling for me to get really good at tennis and to actually [start] competing.”

From the places she’s been to the people she’s met, Brittany cannot believe how much she has changed thanks to Special Olympics. “I’ve made so many new friends. I did not talk [much] until I started playing,” she says. “I’ve been to Greece, Abu Dhabi. They were both really cool places. I got to ride a camel and a dune buggy [in Abu Dhabi].”

As much as she enjoys the travel, she is thrilled to welcome

the USA Games into her home state next June, as are the team members behind the event. Joe Dzaluk, who has been involved with Special Olympics for the past 12 years, led the city’s bid committee four years ago, and when Orlando was chosen as the site, he was selected to steer the planning efforts as CEO and president of the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games.

“Special Olympics has been around for over 50 years now,” he says. “It’s just a great platform to empower our athletes and encourage them and help make a more inclusive world. Special Olympics is obviously a sporting organization but we’re also a health organization, an education organization and we have leadership programs, so there’s four different pillars for Special Olympics and during the Games we’ll put a spotlight for the world and the U.S. on our athletes. It’s a great platform and we think obviously that Orlando is an ideal location for unifying and inspiring.”

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One way these Games will stand out is that, in addition to all 50 states being represented, for the first time 15 other countries from North and South America and the Caribbean will be welcomed as well. “We’re all about diversity and inclusion,” Dzaluk says. “When we were discussing the Games and what it would look like, somebody commented that many of the countries in the Caribbean don’t have their own [national Games] so they don’t get to compete other than the city or town where they live. So we all thought, what a great opportunity given how close we are to our neighboring countries. So that’s what we did.”

Another bonus is just the lure of Orlando itself. The event will take advantage of the fantastic venues Central Florida has to offer, holding competitions in various sports at such spots as the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, the United States Tennis Association National Campus, Rosen Aquatics Center and the Orange County National Golf Center. Opening ceremonies will be held on June 5, 2022 at Exploria Stadium, with athletes parading into the arena from nearby Amway Center.

Disney is one of the corporate partners of Special Olympics, and all athletes will stay for free at Disney’s All Star Sports Resort and be invited to the parks. The entertainment options will surely make Orlando the perfect host for the event, and the USA Games may even contribute to the area’s continued recovery from the pandemic.

“I think that’s what is so special about this particular USA Games,” says Sherry Wheelock, president and CEO of Special Olympics Florida. “Every USA Games has something to see; there’s obviously unique parts of every piece of the U.S. But who doesn’t love the theme parks and the beach opportunity? I think some people will even be interested in going out to Cape Canaveral potentially. I think there are a lot of ways individuals will stay involved during their visit and they may extend it.”

Wheelock says Team Florida will have the largest delegation of athletes at 600. Most of those athletes will be announced later this year, but the triathlon team has already been named and includes Maitland’s Chris Nikic, who last year became the first person with Down syndrome to complete an Ironman. Wheelock hopes athletes like Nikic, Tagliareni and Jacob Sare—the Special Olympics Florida Athlete of the Year in 2020—get the support they deserve.

“My hope and a real positive outcome to me would be the community coming out to cheer on the athletes,” she says. “For all of us, but especially the athletes, when there’s more fans in the stands there’s much more energy and meaning and it gives them a next level of courage.”

They already have the backing of some well-known names across a variety of fields. Gov. Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey are honorary co-chairs, while a distinguished list of professional athletes, actors and other entertainers will serve as official ambassadors of the Games. The group includes Matthew McConaughey, Tyra Banks, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Annika Sorenstam, who calls Central Florida home.

“I was honored to have been asked to be an ambassador for the Special Olympics,” Sorenstam says. “I love their work in providing year-round training through sports and competition for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. So many life lessons can be learned through sports and including these athletes and their families in these opportunities is what life is all about.”

As one of golf’s all-time greats, Sorenstam knows about reaching the pinnacle in a particular sport and sees the same kind of dedication from Special Olympians. “These athletes inspire me,” she says. “The challenges they have overcome to get to this point are incredible. The years of hard work and perseverance it takes to reach the level of the Special Olympics and the courage they demonstrate is extraordinary. The fact that the Games are in my hometown of Orlando is a bonus.”

Wheelock first got involved with Special Olympics while working for Universal Orlando when she joined the board of directors. She went on to become a coach for several sports, eventually joined the Florida organization on a full-time basis and was elevated to her current position. Now she can’t imagine working anywhere else and encourages other to discover the magic behind Special Olympics.

“To come out and see the Games, you definitely walk away with a better understanding of people’s abilities who may not be like you but are equally as important to our community as a whole,” she says. “So many times we worry about winning or losing, but when you come out to our Games, no matter what the score is you’ll see a lot of positivity and joy. Right now, in the midst of COVID, this is definitely a time when people could use more joy. I welcome and invite anybody to come out and see the Games. It’s going to be awesome.”