Nicholas Nackley walked onto the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Thursday, June 18, stood in front of tens of thousands of fans, and flipped a coin to open the FIFA World Cup Group A match between South Africa and Czechia.

The Riverwood International Charter School student was selected by Coca-Cola and Special Olympics to serve as the coin-toss assistant for the match in Atlanta. Coca-Cola sponsored Special Olympics to send one athlete to the ceremony, and Nackley got the nod.

"Fear is not in his vocabulary," said Jason Russo, Nackley's adaptive physical education teacher at Riverwood, who accompanied him onto the field.

Russo and Nackley have worked together every day for the past four years, both in the classroom and through Special Olympics. Russo said Nackley drew on his experience acting in school plays at Riverwood to stay composed in front of the crowd. After initially being overwhelmed upon arriving at the stadium and meeting a wave of new faces, Nackley quickly settled in, Russo said.

Nackley's mother, Janey Riley, watched from home and received a flurry of messages from friends and one of her son's teachers who were in the stadium and spotted him on the Jumbotron.

Russo, who has taught in Fulton County Schools since 2018, teaches adaptive PE at Riverwood and at Lake Forest and Heards Ferry Elementary Schools. He also serves as a Special Olympics Georgia coach, bringing a team of Fulton County students to the yearly Special Olympics Georgia games at Emory University to compete in track and field. In his adaptive PE classes, students participate in bowling, track and field, tennis, Unified Basketball, and Wiffle Ball.

On June 5, Riverwood named Russo its new head softball coach. He had previously assisted with the Raider baseball and softball programs.

Nackley was one of many Special Olympics athletes who participated in coin-toss ceremonies at World Cup matches this summer. Kym Jordan, vice president of global corporate engagement at Special Olympics International, said the organization sent athletes to 18 matches across the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

The match Nackley helped open ended in a draw. South Africa advanced to the Round of 32, marking the first time the men's national team had progressed beyond the group stage at a World Cup.