News

By: Chelsey Kimmel-Kendrick

Special Olympics Iowa’s 33^rd annual Summer Games is a three-day event with more than 2,500 athletes and over 1,500 volunteers. The event consists of several sports including swimming, track and field, bocce, tennis, cycling, soccer and skills games. However, athletes can only participate in one sport per day.

Summer Games will take place on May 25-27. Registration is due by April 1 for the bocce, cycling, soccer and tennis competitions, and April 24 for swimming and athletics (track and field).

The Summer Games will be kicked off with the Law Enforcement Torch Run Final Leg, which brings the symbolic Flame of Hope Torch from downtown Des Moines to Iowa State University’s Hilton Coliseum for the Opening Ceremonies, presented by Hy-Vee. More than 500 law enforcement officers from all around Iowa have participated in the past by running, walking and biking routes, as they head to the big event in Ames. The officers hand the torch to an athlete who lights the flame, which begins the biggest SOIA competition of the year! …

On Saturday, June 17, 2017 the Iowa Barnstormers will be hosting the Sioux Falls Storm for their regular season finale. The Iowa Barnstormers are offering discounted tickets to any Special Olympians and their families for a fun night of Barnstormers football! Discounted tickets are only available for purchase at this link or by calling Chase Kruckemeyer at 515-564-8458.

This discount is NOT available for walk ups the day of the game. If you have any questions call 515-564-8458 for more details.

Pricing:
200 Ends/ 200 Sides: $11

Tickets ordered after June 10 will be available for pick up in the Iowa Barnstormers front office the week prior to the game or at Will Call located at the Wells Fargo Arena ticket office the night of the game.

We look forward to seeing you at the game!

MORE INFO

By Chelsey Kimmel-Kendrick 

More than 425 young children came together to participate in several sports for the Ankeny Play Day on Thursday, April 20 at Ankeny Centennial High School. This is one of many events that is sponsored by one of Special Olympics Iowa’s Premier Statewide Partners, Sammons Financial Group.

Play Days are events where children between the ages of two and seven with intellectual disabilities can play activities and have socialization opportunities. Since athletes cannot participate in Special Olympics events until they’re eight years old, these days were created for those to participate in a more formal setting.

Mary Buscher, human resources consultant for Sammons, says nearly 80 employees from the organization signed up to volunteer for the event. She said Play Days are an event where people do it once and then get hooked. …

By Chelsey Kimmel-Kendrick 

Special Olympics Iowa’s 23^rd annual Drake Unified Sports Day will be taking place on Thursday, May 4 at Drake University in the Knapp Center, where people with and without intellectual disabilities are joined together to compete on the same team.

Dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition, Unified Sports creates teams that are made up of similar ages and abilities. The teams are made up of approximately an equal number of Special Olympic athletes and athletes without intellectual or mental disabilities; these are called partners. The idea behind Unified Sports is to eliminate the preconceived notions and false impressions of Special Olympics athletes. …

We are happy to announce that the Iowa Farm Bureau has become a Premier Statewide Partner with Special Olympics Iowa (SOIA)!

Farm Bureau has always supported SOIA — not only through generous gifts, but also through committed volunteer efforts from employees volunteering at SOIA events. For many years, team members from Farm Bureau have created relationships with athletes and managed events during Summer Games, participated in Unified volleyball, and joined us in many other volunteer opportunities. …

Martial Artists for Children and Community will host their annual 5k Fun Run on Saturday, May 13 in Grimes. Proceeds from the event will be donated to Special Olympics Iowa.

MACC is a 501c3 non-profit organization closely affiliated with Martial Arts America Tae Kwon Do school in Ankeny, Iowa. This organization is designed to provide assistance to the children and community through charity and donation of resources, people and time.

The run will start at the Grimes Community Complex, where parking and vendors will be located. The race will begin at 8 a.m. Registration is open online NOW for $35. If you register and pay online by April 29 you’ll receive a free event T-shirt. Registration will begin at 7:30 a.m. the day of the event for those who have not pre-registered online.

Questions? Contact MACC Vice President Alex Bishop at bishopa9311@hotmail.com.

REGISTER NOW

By: Chelsey Kimmel-Kendrick

“I’m a real humble person,” a line Dee Sturgeon knows all too well. She has been a volunteer for more than 25 years as an events coordinator for American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life event, and has been a coach for Special Olympics Iowa for more than 30 years. Sturgeon doesn’t do it for the recognition though. She does it to inspire others.

“I have the time,” she says. “I just think that it’s the right thing to do; Volunteers can inspire others to do it.”

And that she did. Sturgeon is also an instructional assistant for students with special needs, in addition to her volunteer work. She says her classroom kids were motivated by her work. For their middle school Spread the Word to End the Word® campaign, they offered to help. Some of the kids volunteered to make PSAs to inform the media about the event; others wrote speeches to share — all of which, Sturgeon says, were attributed to her volunteerism.

“It’s kind of cool to see the kids get involved because I get involved,” she says. …

By: Chelsey Kimmel-Kendrick

Tabitha Darnell was named an outstanding Olympic Athlete of the Year in 2008, was named a Big 12 Special Olympian of the Year in 2009, and has received many ribbons and medals since she started participating in the Special Olympics at age eight. Now, she’s 36 years old, and she’s headed to the World Winter Games in Austria.

The World Games are an international competition where Special Olympic athletes from more than 170 countries participate. The Winter Games include skiing, skating, snowboarding, snowshoeing, floor hockey, floorball and stick shooting. This year’s event will be taking place in March in three locations in Austria: Graz, Schladming and Ramsau. Davenport’s Darnell will be skiing like she has since she was 13 years old. She will not only be representing Iowa, but Team USA as well. This isn’t Darnell’s first World Games event. She went to Dublin, Ireland in 2003. …