Articles in Athletes

Special Olympics Night at Iowa Barnstormers Game June 17

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!

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Ankeny Play Day and Its Impact

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.IMG_2855

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.

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2017 Drake University Unified Sports Day to take place May 4

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By Chelsey Kimmel-Kendrick 

Special Olympics Iowa’s 23rd 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.

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MACC Foundation’s Annual 5K Fun Run to Benefit SOIA

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.running1

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

 

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FREE Iowa State Football Game on April 8

On Saturday, April 8 Iowa State University will hold its annual free spring football game. SOIA athletes and family and friends are invited to attend the game and be a part of a Special Olympics section! The athlete section is being sponsored by Learfield Sports and SOIA Statewide Sponsor UnitedHealthcare.

 

SOIA will be seated in section 25. There will be signage to find the Special Olympics section in the stands. Guests are encouraged to park on the south side of the stadium (S2/S3) and can take the general public elevator up to the East Concourse.

 

No tickets are needed for this event. There will be wheelchair accessible seating.

 

What: Iowa State Spring Football Game
Who: SOIA Athletes, Families & Friends
When: Saturday, April 8, 2017
Time: Gates open at noon, game begins at 1 p.m.
Where: Jack Trice Stadium, ISU Campus

 

Details below. Call the state office at 515-986-5520 with questions or email Stephanie Kocer at skocer@soiowa.org.

 

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SOIA Athlete Headed to World Winter Games

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.TabithaSki

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.

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Sign Up for the Annual SOIA Youth Games TODAY!

On Saturday, April 22, young athletes are invited to participate in the annual SOIA Youth Games at the University of Iowa in Iowa City.

The event will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with participant registration starting at 9:30 a.m. that day. All events will be held in the University of Iowa’s Hawkeye Recreation Fields. Youth Games are free of cost and each athlete will receive lunch at the event and a T-shirt.

Sports instruction and competition is limited to youth ages 6 to 21 years of age with intellectual disabilities. Participants will choose between track & field, basketball, and soccer and spend the day learning and mastering the skills of that sport!

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SOIA Welcomes UnitedHealthcare as a Premier Statewide Partner

Special Olympics Iowa is happy to announce that in 2017, UnitedHealthcare became a SOIA Premier Statewide Partner and a sponsor of Challenge Days and the Healthy Athletes program, positively impacting thousands of Iowans with intellectual disabilities.bball31-300x230

UnitedHealthcare fits right in with the SOIA mission, as the company works every day “to help people live healthier lives.” The company has a strong history with SOIA, serving as a Gold Level Sponsor in past years before coming on as a Statewide Partner. And in 2016-2017, in collaboration with Iowa State University and SOIA, they started the “Athlete of the Game” presentation at ten men’s basketball games at ISU, where a Special Olympics’ athlete is recognized on the floor at Hilton Coliseum and presented with an autographed basketball. Prior to that, UnitedHealthcare donated $25,000 to support SOIA programs and activities across the state.

On Saturday, April 8, as a part of their sponsorship at ISU games, UnitedHealthcare will honor all Special Olympics athletes at the ISU Spring Game. The game starts at 1 p.m. and the event is free. They encourage everyone to come!

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FREE Tickets to Iowa Energy Game February 13 Available

Iowa_Energy_logo.svgSpecial Olympics Iowa (SOIA) has 50 FREE Iowa Energy tickets for the game on Monday, February 13 at 7 p.m. vs. the Reno Bighorns. 

The state office has 50 Iowa Energy tickets available for athletes and their families provided through the Veridian Cares program.

In addition to attending the February 13 game, athletes will also receive inflatable Thunderstix to root on the team and the opportunity to participate in the on court fan tunnel during the starting lineup. This is the tunnel that the players run through right before the game starts. To participate in this, your group will need to check in at Fan Services the night of the game at 6:30 p.m. Fan Services is located on the south side of the concourse at the top of Section 124 at Wells Fargo Arena.

Tickets are available at the state office. If interested, call 515-986-5520, or email Stephanie Kocer at skocer@soiowa.org to claim tickets.

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