After a whirlwind of occasions over the previous couple months, we thought it might be a good time to catch you up on all issues Particular Olympics Vermont (at the very least our main happenings)!
Vacation Video games
From late October by way of January, regional bowling occasions had been held at Rutland Bowlerama and Spare Time Colchester. The southern bowling league that performed in Rutland was composed of groups from Rutland Intermediate Center College, Rutland Excessive College, and Mill River Union Excessive College. The northern league had groups from South Burlington Faculties, Edmunds Center College, Essex Center College, Essex Excessive College, and Mount Mansfield Union Excessive College.
Along with the Unified Champion Faculties bowling leagues, Bellcate College, CVU, Shelburne Neighborhood College, U32, and Montpelier Excessive College participated in scrimmages all through the season.
This yr, we partnered with the Edge in South Burlington to host our swimming competitors. About 30 athletes from Addison, Chittenden, Franklin County Maple Leafs, and Bellcate College competed in numerous combos of 25m, 50m, and 100m freestyle, butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke occasions. We noticed some nice end occasions and everybody did an unbelievable job!
Lastly, we had floorball video games at Collins Perley Sports activities and Health Heart. Chittenden and Franklin County with 2 groups every competed in opposition to one another for first by way of fourth place awards.
These occasions wouldn’t have been doable with out the coordination and assist of native HODs, UCS liaisons, and our host venues. Thanks!
Winter Competitions
Vertical Problem at Saskadena Six
Particular Olympics Vermont athletes had been invited to take part within the Vertical Problem at Saskadena Six. On March fifth athletes, coaches, mother and father, and volunteers from Addison and Mount Snow Adaptive joined us for a good looking day on the mountain! 13 athletes competed on the novice course arrange completely for Particular Olympics Vermont, whereas 23 skiers and snowboarders competed on the Vertical Problem course. We would prefer to thank all our companions at Saskadena Six and Vertical Problem for internet hosting us at this enjoyable occasion, and our volunteers, HODs, and coaches that helped make this occasion profitable!
Snowshoeing and Cross-country Snowboarding
We hosted our cross-country snowboarding and snowshoe competitions at Rikert Nordic Heart this yr the place 27 athletes competed in snowshoe races, whereas 10 skiers raced in numerous distance occasions.
Members of legislation enforcement had been in a position to be a part of us and draped medals at award ceremonies, and cheered athletes on of their competitions. We additionally had members from the Middlebury School Unified Membership volunteer and help us all through the day.
Congratulations to all athletes and coaches from Addison, Bennington, and Chittenden. We’d prefer to thank our delegations and companions at Rikert for being versatile after having to cancel our authentic date because of unsafe driving situations, in addition to all our volunteers, HODs, and companions that made this a profitable and fun-filled occasion!
Unified Leisure Basketball Match
We hosted a center faculty leisure basketball event for the primary time at Albert D. Lawton College (ADL) in Essex. This was an effective way for center stage college students to be launched to Unified Basketball which is extra frequent at the highschool stage. One Bellcate workforce, two ADL groups, and two Edmunds Center College groups performed a round-robin format and had been awarded with participation medals on the finish of the day. Stands had been stuffed with supporters of every faculty cheering for his or her groups. We would like to provide a shoutout UCS liaison Catherine Parlante and the workers at ADL who had been an unbelievable assist in organizing this occasion!
Penguin Plunge
Our largest and most anticipated fundraiser of the yr went distant because of frigid temperatures anticipated on the day of the occasion. Fundraisers had been inspired to point out their assist for SOVT by recording or taking photographs of their artistic options to the standard in-person plunge into Lake Champlain. Regardless of having gone distant, plungers continued to fundraise, and we even exceeded our fundraising purpose for the Cool Faculties Penguin Plunge by $20,000! The VIP Occasion on the eve of the Plunge happened at Lodge Vermont for the primary time. Sponsors, high fundraisers, SOVT board, workers and members of the group loved stay music, meals, and drinks in celebration of the Plunge. We capped off the 2023 Penguin Plunge with a Premiere Occasion held at Foam Brewers on March twenty first to look at the manufacturing of distant plunges put collectively by our associates at Media Manufacturing facility.
On March eleventh, we headed right down to Manchester for the Southern Vermont Penguin Plunge. About 100 group members from Manchester and neighboring cities raised over $17,000 for Particular Olympics Vermont. The Manchester Hearth Division sprayed water from one among their tower vehicles for plungers to run by way of. It was a full of life occasion regardless of the gloomy climate, with music from Burr and Burton scholar DJs, and scorching espresso and freshly made pizza by Sam’s Wooden Fired Pizza Co.
Altogether, the 2023 Penguin Plunge raised over $525,000 for Particular Olympics Vermont. This could not have been doable with out the assist of our many sponsors, companions, and over 1,000 devoted plungers!
Athlete Highlight
SOVT workers member and athlete chief Bennett Townley has been representing athletes and Particular Olympics Vermont at native occasions and at a nationwide stage. Early this yr, Bennett was a part of the Vermont delegation to go to Washington DC for Capitol Hill Day to foyer for funding for Particular Olympics. Bennett introduced to Senator Peter Welch in addition to staffers of members of congress, sharing how his involvement in Particular Olympics Vermont programming has impacted his life.
Extra just lately, Bennett was the keynote speaker on the Vermont Affiliation for Center Degree Training (VAMLE) Convention which happened at Champlain School. Lots of of center faculty college students and educators from throughout Vermont attended this convention aimed in the direction of decreasing bullying. Bennett spoke about his expertise as a scholar earlier than and after his highschool adopted Unified Sports activities. Academics and college students gave nice suggestions on his speech and Bennett mentioned, “this felt like a very good alternative to show younger individuals about Particular Olympics and people with distinctive skills.”
Champions Premiere
On March sixth, athletes and their households, volunteers, sponsors, donors, plungers, and plenty of different members of the SOVT group joined us at Palace 9 Cinemas for an early screening of the film Champions. Vermont resident and co-star Casey Metcalfe helped kick off the film by sharing his appearing journey with us and the way he landed his function in Champions. Turnout was unbelievable and it was superb to see so many individuals with the identical take care of our mission come collectively to look at a movie that represents Particular Olympics athletes.
Upcoming Occasions
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Norwich Basketball Match, April sixteenth, Norwich College
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UCS Bocce Match, Could tenth, Brattleboro Union Excessive College
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SOVT Profit Golf Match at Burlington Nation Membership,
Could twenty second, Burlington Nation Membership. Click on right here to be taught extra.
