From SPECIAL OLYMPICS OHIO
Athletes across Ohio are prepared for the return of Special Olympics Ohio’s Indoor Winter Games. As the organization’s second largest state-level annual tournament, Winter Games will be held on March 5-6 at Bowling Green State University. The event will include basketball, basketball skills, competitive cheerleading, and swimming tournaments for athletes as well as Unified Sports and Healthy Athletes programs.
More than 750 athletes will participate in Traditional and Unified Sports competitions at the Indoor Winter Games. Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities (ID) on the same team and is inspired by a simple idea: training and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. These experiences are challenging, exciting, and proven to improve attitudes and behaviors among all young people, both with and without ID.
“Special Olympics Ohio athletes, coaches, Unified partners, volunteers and spectators are thrilled to safely return to the Indoor Winter Games this year since we last held the event in 2020 due to the pandemic. Hosting the event at Bowling Green State University allows us to provide exceptional competition venues to show off the hard work and training athletes have put into preparing for this event,” says Jessica Stewart, Special Olympics Ohio’s President and CEO.
In addition to sports competition, athletes will have access to free health screenings and education through the Healthy Athletes program. Healthy Athletes is not only a program for athletes, but through training and hands-on experience at screenings, it is also a program for healthcare students and professionals to increase knowledge of best practices in caring for and communicating with people with ID.
About Special Olympics Ohio
Special Olympics Ohio is advancing the global inclusion movement through sports, health education, and leadership programs that empower people with intellectual disabilities throughout Ohio. By providing year-round sports training and competition for 20,000 athletes in the state, we offer everyone the opportunity to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a community where they belong.
