JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER

• HAPPY NEW YEAR! •

Winter Games

In just five days, 239 athletes and Unified partners will gather in Dubuque for the 2024 Winter Games! Competitions will take place on January 8 and 9 in snowshoeing, skiing, cornhole, and ice skating events. Good luck to everyone competing!

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Basketball Season is Here!

Regional team basketball tournaments and area basketball skills competitions start next week and continue through January and February. All basketball events are qualifiers for the Spring Classic scheduled for Saturday, March 9 in Iowa City.

Volunteers are needed at many of the competitions. Click the link below for a list of dates needing volunteers and to register.

VOLUNTEER INFORMATION

Hall of Fame Induction

Special Olympics Iowa inducted 13 individuals into the Hall of Fame on December 7th. The Hall of Fame was created as a way to recognize the longevity and achievements of athletes and volunteers within our organization. Every inductee has been involved with Special Olympics Iowa for at least 10 years.

The 2023 Hall of Fame class includes Joshua Dobbs (Ames), Amy Hickey (Dubuque), Charity Hodson (Des Moines), Rolla Lucas (Davenport), Bruce Barnett (Waterloo), Jane Bergendahl (Long Grove), Peg Koele (Hull), Trudy Messerschmidt (Minden), Naomi Lawler (Glenwood), Julie Brummer (Glenwood), Kathy King (Glenwood), Paula Zillmer (Overland Park, KS), and Martin Wright (Glenwood).

Athlete Leadership Conference Recap

The 2023 Athlete Leadership Conference and Unified Youth Summit was held December 15th-17th in Des Moines. More than 65 Global Messengers and 20 Unified pairs from across Iowa attended sessions on leading meaningful change. We got to hear from Abigail the Advocate on the importance of not letting others' opinions limit your success, and had great weekend spent learning leadership styles, practicing team-building techniques, and spreading the message of inclusion!

Athlete Health Tip

At this year's Athlete Leadership Conference, athletes were asked to provide health tips to help encourage others in their efforts to make healthier lifestyle choices, which will be shared in each month's newsletter.

This month's health tip comes from Lisa Spencer, Global Messenger and Health Messenger.

Unified Champion Schools

Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools® bring together students with and without intellectual disabilities through education, sports and youth leadership to provide them with the knowledge, attitudes and skills necessary to create and sustain school communities that promote acceptance and respect. Special Olympics Iowa partners with pre-schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges to implement or continue three main components of the Unified Champion Schools model.

Interested in becoming a Unified Champion School?

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SOIA and IHSAA Partnership

Special Olympics Iowa and the Iowa High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) are beginning a partnership! The partnership is an exciting step to grow and recognize Unified sports as other sports are recognized in schools and across the state. IHSAA will work to promote unified sports programs during the 2023-2024 school year. As unified sports grow here in Iowa, we look forward to expanding offerings to schools in the 2024-2025 school year and beyond.

Potential opportunities through Special Olympics Iowa and the IHSAA include Unified bowling, Unified basketball and others as more IHSAA member schools Unified Champion Schools programs. These opportunities will be shared as they become available while IHSAA also works to promote Unified programs through Special Olympics Iowa.

Interested in being part of these opportunities?

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FUNDRAISING CENTRAL

Pickleball is a Big Dill

Save the date! The second annual Pickleball and Public Safety Tournament will take place on Saturday, March 16th at Life Time in Urbandale.

Registration is open to everyone. Participants will register as teams of two in one of three divisions: men's, women's, or co-ed. Awards will be given to the top 3 teams in each division.

Polar Plunge: A Frosty Fun Time

The temperatures outside are dropping and so are the dates of our spring Polar Plunge® season. Mark your calendars to be bold and get cold at one of the following locations:

March 30 - Iowa City/Cedar Rapids

April 6 - Warren County

April 20 - Cedar Falls/Waterloo

TBA - Council Bluffs

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