South Pomfret -- Lauren Guay grew up in the same Enfield home as her older sister, Adrienne, but she used to be miles away athletically and socially.

While Adrienne was playing field hockey and softball at Mascoma Valley Regional High School, Lauren, a victim of a cerebral hemorrhage at birth and numerous orthopedic conditions, had no similar outlet until she was a sophomore in high school. That's when her family discovered the Upper Valley Hawks.

Now 23, Guay is a mainstay swimmer, snowshoe racer and bowler for the Hawks, who have been practicing twice a week since January in preparation for the winter edition of Special Olympics Vermont at Suicide Six ski resort, which began yesterday and continues today.

Guay earned a bronze medal in the 100-meter snowshoe race yesterday.

Third place isn't her best finish ever, but Guay's involvement has always more about interacting with peers and family than it has her place on the podium.

“She needed something where her parents and family could root for her,” said Agnes Guay, Lauren's mother. “Most schools don't have the ability to accommodate that for people like Lauren. I think as much as athletically, socially the Hawks has been great for Lauren.”

Not that the Hawks' competitors aren't pushed as athletes; their enthusiastic coach, team founder Missy Rodriguez, makes sure they are.

Since starting the Hawks 11 years ago, Rodriguez has motivated her athletes to strive to be at their best. It showed yesterday for 23-year old Lindsay Campbell of West Lebanon, who earned the gold medal in the 100-meter snowshoe race, and Steve Zue of White River Junction, who earned silver in the male version of the event.

“Yeah, I've definitely gotten faster,” Campbell said after coming off the podium and sitting down for a rest. “I like racing a lot. It's really fun.”

For the Hawks, both of this winter's area Special Olympics -- the team was also at the Upper Valley Special Olympics hosted by Dartmouth Skiway in January -- were just the tip of the iceberg. After the team packs up today from its two-night stay at the Woodstock Inn, many of the Hawks will begin preparing for next weekend's invitational basketball tournament at Norwich University, where they'll vie for a spot at next month’s state championships at the University of Vermont.

Some of the Hawks, including Guay, will forgo basketball and begin focusing on this June's summer Special Olympics at the University of New Hampshire, where they'll compete in swimming and track and field events.

Rodriguez began training her first intellectually disabled athlete, a student in the Hartford school system, in 1994. The operation became a small group, and Rodriguez soon began mentoring additional patrons out of Richmond Middle School and Hanover High after she became the Dresden school district's adapted learning physical education teacher in 1997.

She merged her athletes into the Upper Valley Hawks a year later, and has since watched the group blossom into a team of more than 50 athletes, drawing additional athletes of all ages from Lebanon, the Mascoma Valley region and beyond.

Rodriguez and her supporters conduct all their own fundraising for the volunteer operation, asking parents and athletes for what they can afford to help pay for the use of facilities. She admits all the work outside of her paying job can be taxing, but seeing her athletes thrive is the ultimate compensation for the Canaan resident.

“It's the way they improve, they way they smile and try their hardest,” Rodriguez said yesterday. “If I asked them to run 10 miles, they wouldn't ask me why. They'd just try their best to run the whole 10 miles.”

Nearly 350 athletes competed in Special Olympics Vermont, including groups from Suicide Six, Rivendell Academy, Woodstock Elementary School and Zack's Place community center. The events kicked off Wednesday with the School Unified Snowshoe races, which partnered athletes with intellectual disabilities with those without them.

The opening ceremonies were held Friday night on the Woodstock Green, where Gov. Jim Douglas addressed the athletes and Woodstock seventh-grader Erin Wood, a Special Olympics athlete for the Suicide Six group, delivered a motivational speech she wrote. The night concluded with fireworks lit from the top of Mount Tom.

Suicide Six' athletes are coached by Cathee Smith of Reading, Vt., who has trained winter Special Olympics competitors for 22 years at various ski resorts throughout Vermont. One her stalwarts is 45-year-old Windsor native Colleen Pomeroy, who earned her first gold medal in a novice alpine event yesterday.

“Getting out and participating in the Special Olympics is a huge boost for (the athletes') self confidence and self esteem,” Smith said.

“When Erin Wood started out with me last year, she was very shy and reserved, and now she's getting up in front of hundreds of people and delivering speeches. She even typed out a list of questions for Gov. Douglas to answer on e-mail. Things like that are really what make all this worthwhile.”