A snowball! That would describe Steve Decker's world from October through February each year. For the past 17 years, Steve has volunteered for the Special Olympics Colorado (SOCO). Steve works as a Payroll Systems Analyst Specialist for the Personnel and Payroll Systems Division (PPSD) at the National Business Center (NBC) in Denver.

Each winter season, Steve heads to the Copper Mountain Ski Resort about 100 miles west of Denver as a volunteer for SOCO. For the 2004 Ride, Slide and Glide Winter Olympics, Steve spent February 21-22 setting up the race courses. These winter games include alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, snowshoeing, and skating.

Steve got involved with SOCO in February 1987. At first, Steve had some "fear" because he ". . . didn't know about the athletes and how to interact with them." Steve stepped into that fear. When he did, Steve found an ". . . avenue to give back." Volunteering also offered Steve a responsibility where he would "carry through. . . stick to" the mission at hand.

Steve's first duties for the Winter Games for SOCO were gate keeping and timing. Gradually, his duties rolled into more responsibility. With each year, Steve gained experience, exposure, and knowledge about technical equipment, people, and organization. Around 2000, he was asked to run the Snowboard, a brand new event. He told the Director of SOCO that he was ready to manage the race course and happened to get noticed by the World Games Committee. It was an accomplishment that he would add to his repertoire of race course management. Over the years, Steve and the Alpine team volunteered to work Professional World Cup and Nor Am races to increase knowledge, along with getting certified with the U. S. Ski and Snowboard Association and the Rocky Mountain Ski Race Officials, Inc. All of this was to increase the level of professionalism/challenge of the SOCO winter games - to make the games a true competition to the participating athletes - an honest effort win.

With his expertise of equipment and overall race management expanding, Steve's world expanded, too. In 2001, he was chosen from a number of applicants to attend the Winter Games in Anchorage, Alaska, to manage the Snowboard event. Steve served as Chief of Course for this competition. This year, immediately following the games at Cooper Mountain, Steve boarded a plane and headed to Nagano, Japan. Steve had been chosen to serve as a Technical Delegate at the 3rd Japan National Winter Games. These preliminary games also served as a "dry run" prior to the 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games to be held in Nagano, where again he will serve as a Technical Delegate.

Steve's enthusiasm for volunteering has carried over to the workplace. He has enlisted fellow co-workers, Kim Rivard, Anita Bellinger, and Dean Laterza, as volunteers for SOCO. This year at the Cooper Mountain events, Kim served as Chief, Timing and Calculation (Slalom); Anita served as Chief, Timing and Calculation (Snowboard); and Dean served as Chief Gate Judge.

Steve best expressed it himself when asked why he volunteers, ". . . it is not about me, it is opening up interest for someone else . . .you meet people at their best. . . get a real sense of community that is lost in the big city. . . have a sense of giving from the heart. . . it is so complete."