At Emory University, the swimming and diving teams share their love of the water and their athletics expertise with a special group of people.

Every Tuesday night, a group of 10 to 15 volunteers from the teams coach up to 30 Special Olympians who have a variety of disabilities. Some of the participants come as part of their training for the Special Olympics, and many of them hope to be gold-medal contenders. Others come for the social interaction and the sheer joy of swimming.

Both the Special Olympians and the Emory student-athletes benefit from the experience. "It's like summer camp all over again," said Emory senior co-captain Bill Rhoads. "It reminds me of being a kid, when I swam just for the fun of it."

Emory University swimmer Erik Johnson first met Eric Miller, a Special Olympian, four years ago at a local YWCA as part of a program with Volunteer Emory, a campus group that matches Emory students with community-service opportunities.

When the pair began swimming lessons, Miller couldn't swim the width of the pool. A year later, he took home a gold medal in the Georgia Special Olympics.

"(It was) the best performance I'd ever seen, collegiate or otherwise," Johnson said. "Eric wore his medal all weekend."

The Special Olympics swimming program relocated to Emory's athletics facilities this year, and many more members of the swimming and diving teams got involved. The program came to Emory's facilities with the blessing of head coach Jon Howell, who was looking for a team community service project, and at the request of Johnson and another swimmer, Andrew Dober, who was getting ready to graduate.

"The program is in good hands," said Johnson, who has since moved on to law school. "The move guarantees these Special Olympians a bright future."

Dan Evatt, recreation manager of the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities and director of the Special Olympics swim program, is excited about the program's growth since it moved to Emory. While the larger locker rooms and additional swimming lanes provide tangible benefits, it's the interaction with the student-athletes that Evatt cites as the biggest benefit so far.

"There's no comparison. With more athletes, our Special Olympians have more one-on-one interaction," he said. "But it's the qualities that the athletes possess as well. Ours is a special population. Emory students seem more accustomed to volunteer service of this nature. Some have worked with this population before. It's all worked out better than we could have imagined."

It's also worked out well for the Emory student-athletes. Swimmer Shawn Faurot coaches Tim Shannon, a Special Olympian in his late 20s who has Downs Syndrome. Shannon, who has a strong desire to improve, learned to dive off the starting blocks this year. Faurot says Shannon is one of the hardest-working swimmers in the group.

"Their enthusiasm is contagious," Faurot said of the Special Olympians. "It's such a great atmosphere for Emory students and the swim team in particular. It breaks up the monotony of college life."

Betsy Culver, a Special Olympian in her late 20s, comes to the Emory program primarily for the social interaction though she will compete in the state Special Olympics.

"Most social programs for disabled adults are with children or other disabled adults," said Culver's mother, Lynn Culver. "They end up isolated. This program gives them a better opportunity to learn and grow with other adults their own age."

The elder Culver also credits the Emory student-athletes with creating an atmosphere that keeps her daughter coming back.

"They are terrific teachers," she said of the student-athletes. "But most of all (they are) terrific people. "