Megan Dineen, 28, of Paint Lick has been a Special Olympics athlete for 15 years, competing in swimming, track and field in addition to bocce. She competes as part of the STRIDE program in Winchester. This is her first trip to the USA Games.
Megan Dineen
Lesley Dineen, Unified Partner
Lesley Dineen of Paint Lick is Megan’s mother and Unified partner. She began as a Special Olympics coach in 2011 and began competing as a Unified partner in 2023. This will be her first trip to the USA Games.
Brett Thompson
Brett Thompson, 32, of Rockport will be competing at the USA Games for the second time. He took fourth place in the bocce singles event and he and his father, Jeff, won the silver medal in their Unified pairs competition. Thompson has been involved in Special Olympics for 20 years competing in bowling, basketball and softball in addition to bocce. Brett’s brother Torrey is also a USA Games silver medalist, claiming the award in the Unified doubles at the 2022 Games in Orlando.
“It’s an honor to be chosen. I’m going to try to win a gold medal, have fun in competition, meet new people and make new friends with teammates.”
Jeff Thompson,
Unified Partner
Unified Partner
Jeff Thompson of Rockport is also competing at the USA Games for the second time. He and Brett won the silver medal in their Unified pairs competition. Thompson has been involved in Special Olympics for 20 years serving as a coach and a Unified partner. He has been a Unified partner in bowling as well as bocce. Jeff works for Walmart.
“Having two special needs children, it has given us a chance to participate in sports, to meet great people, to travel to different events and learn more about how great these special needs people and coaches and others involved in organizing events are.”
Bud Coffman, Coach
Coffman will be coaching the Team Kentucky bocce delegation for the third consecutive USA Games. In Seattle in 2018 his athletes claimed three silver medals. In 2022 in Orlando, they claimed one silver and one bronze. He has been involved in Special Olympics for more than 30 years as a coach and Unified partner, coaching track, bowling, softball, basketball and swimming in addition to bocce. He has also competed as a bowling Unified partner. In addition to also serving with his wife, Danielle, as a Local Coordinator in Ohio County, Coffman has been the bocce venue director at the State Summer Games in since 2019. He lives in Hartford. He is a service tech for AT&T.
Bud says he admires “Eunice Kennedy Shriver and all of my athletes.”