How It Works:

1. Register with us if you haven’t already this year! A reminder that registration is free this year. If you are already registered just reply to this email to let us know you would like to participate in the Games. Each registered Games participant that completes the challenge activities through the months of May and June will receive a Games uniform piece. If you haven’t registered yet please fill out the sobcnanaimoreg.
2. Complete the challenges in the SOBC Provincial Challenge Games calendars. There will be daily physical and wellness activities! Training group leaders will connect weekly with their local athletes to provide encouragement and help track points. (Training group leaders do not have to be trained coaches. Interested parents and administrative volunteers are encouraged to get involved!)
3. Help your Regional team claim top spot in the province! While this event will not be a qualifier, every challenge activity that an athlete completes will earn points toward your Regional team’s total. Plus, athletes who complete their challenges will be entered in weekly prize draws! Regional team point totals will be averaged based on the number of participants per team, so every Region has the potential to come out on top – no matter their size!
4. Experience the Games spirit by connecting with your local training group and your Regional team, and by attending the virtual ceremonies!
   Virtual Opening Ceremony on Facebook Live, April 29 at 6:30 p.m. PT
   Virtual Closing Ceremonies on Facebook Live, June 23 to 24

The challenge calendars will be very similar to those SOBC has offered throughout the past year – check out the past calendars for examples. But there will be some new activities and new creative ways to win points!

Timeline:

APRIL 12 TO 30: Registration!

• Each registered Games participant that completes the challenge activities through the months of May and June will receive a Games uniform piece.
• Registration closes April 30.

MAY 1 TO JUNE 18: SOBC Provincial Challenge Games Competition!

• SOBC hosts a virtual Provincial Challenge Games Opening Ceremony on April 29 at 6:30 p.m. PT.
• SOBC issues a Provincial Challenge Games activity calendar for each month and maintains a leaderboard tracking regional team rankings.
• Athletes complete challenges and count their points.
• Training group leaders connect at least once a week with athletes and submit points to team.
• Regional teams come together virtually for monthly pep rallies.

JUNE 23 TO 24: SOBC Provincial Challenge Games Ceremonies!

• Virtual awards, dance parties, and more.

Are you ready to compete, connect, and take on a challenge? Be part of the 2021 Special Olympics BC Provincial Challenge Games!

How It Works:

1. Register with us if you haven’t already this year! A reminder that registration is free this year. If you are already registered just reply to this email to let us know you would like to participate in the Games. Each registered Games participant that completes the challenge activities through the months of May and June will receive a Games uniform piece. If you haven’t registered yet please fill out the sobcnanaimoreg.
2. Complete the challenges in the SOBC Provincial Challenge Games calendars. There will be daily physical and wellness activities! Training group leaders will connect weekly with their local athletes to provide encouragement and help track points. (Training group leaders do not have to be trained coaches. Interested parents and administrative volunteers are encouraged to get involved!)
3. Help your Regional team claim top spot in the province! While this event will not be a qualifier, every challenge activity that an athlete completes will earn points toward your Regional team’s total. Plus, athletes who complete their challenges will be entered in weekly prize draws! Regional team point totals will be averaged based on the number of participants per team, so every Region has the potential to come out on top – no matter their size!
4. Experience the Games spirit by connecting with your local training group and your Regional team, and by attending the virtual ceremonies!
   Virtual Opening Ceremony on Facebook Live, April 29 at 6:30 p.m. PT
   Virtual Closing Ceremonies on Facebook Live, June 23 to 24

The challenge calendars will be very similar to those SOBC has offered throughout the past year – check out the past calendars for examples. But there will be some new activities and new creative ways to win points!

Timeline:

APRIL 12 TO 30: Registration!

• Each registered Games participant that completes the challenge activities through the months of May and June will receive a Games uniform piece.
• Registration closes April 30.

MAY 1 TO JUNE 18: SOBC Provincial Challenge Games Competition!

• SOBC hosts a virtual Provincial Challenge Games Opening Ceremony on April 29 at 6:30 p.m. PT.
• SOBC issues a Provincial Challenge Games activity calendar for each month and maintains a leaderboard tracking regional team rankings.
• Athletes complete challenges and count their points.
• Training group leaders connect at least once a week with athletes and submit points to team.
• Regional teams come together virtually for monthly pep rallies.

JUNE 23 TO 24: SOBC Provincial Challenge Games Ceremonies!

• Virtual awards, dance parties, and more.

Are you ready to compete, connect, and take on a challenge? Be part of the 2021 Special Olympics BC Provincial Challenge Games this spring!

Fundamental Movements and Mental Training

We hope you can join us for this SOBC Youth Engagement Project initiative created by Nanaimo’s Emily Hoppe.

Emily is teaming up with Mental Performance Consultant Geoff Hackett from PacificSport Vancouver Island to offer a virtual event about mental training!

This event is designed for athletes, coaches, parents, students, and even teachers. It will help with learning about what mental performance is, understanding mental and physical health, knowing your body and its emotions, thoughts and actions, and developing specific mental tools to help performance in sport and daily life.

Participants also have the opportunity to win a T-shirt or gift card for attending!

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Saturday, March 20

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PT

Register here

If you have any questions, please contact Emily at movementskillsworkshop.

COMING SOON

Emily is also developing videos to help with training fundamental movements – stay tuned!

Special Olympics BC’s Youth Engagement Project is generously supported by

Special Olympics Nanaimo
December Newsletter

This has been a year unlike any other and we’re grateful for everyone’s willingness to roll with the changes and keep working to provide sport opportunities in our region as best we can. We know there’s still a lot to do but I want to thank the local committee members that have been meeting monthly to create plans and work to get as many athletes as active as possible. A huge thank you to our coaches that have embraced the changes and to the athletes for bringing your energy and effort back to the programs!

While the holidays will be different this year, there will still be opportunities to connect with others and we hope you take advantage of those. Special Olympics BC is organizing a holiday party for all athletes and volunteers on December 16th so please take a moment to read the info below. We all know how many of you like to join a dance party!

A reminder to stay active and healthy over the holidays and fingers crossed that we’ll get to see you as many of you as soon as possible in the new year!

As we gear up to start our Athletics program next Wednesday night and Club Fit on September 28th we realize that there has been a lot of changes since you were last able to attend a sport program. Our guess is that you have some questions about the changes and what the year ahead looks like and we want to make sure you have an opportunity to ask them!

Next Thursday night, September 24th, from 6-7:30pm we’re going to be hosting an online zoom conversation open to all athletes, coaches and caretakers. If you don’t have zoom you’ll also be able to call in to the conversation. In order to answer as many questions as possible we’re hoping you will respond to this email with your questions before 6pm on Wednesday.

Please also let us know if you want to attend the session by responding to this email and we’ll share the login information closer to the event date.

A quick reminder that we are asking for all athletes and volunteers to fill out their registration forms as soon as possible so that we have your updated information and can keep you informed as more programs and training opportunities are announced. Registering is also important as the data is used when applying for funding for our programs and when you indicate which sports you’re interested in it will help us determine who will participate when more sports safely reopen.

Considering that some athletes may not be able to participate right away we will not be collecting a registration fee at this time.

Have a great weekend!

I hope you all enjoyed a fantastic summer and haven taken advantage of the warm weather to get outside and stay healthy! We’re excited to announce that Special Olympics BC has approved the return of some sports for in-person training again and we will be offering an Athletics program on Wednesday evenings and Outdoor Club Fit program on Monday evenings starting soon and running until the weather gets too bad. Both programs will take place at the track behind NDSS.

Please note that we are limited to 12 athletes maximum in each program as the training groups are limited to ensure the health and safety of all of athletes and volunteers. We will be selecting athletes for the programs based on whether an athlete was previously registered in one of the sports offered, the athlete is able to attend the program on a regular basis, the athlete is comfortable participating during this time and able to follow all COVID-19 protocols in place for that sport program and then first come, first serve. If you’d like to learn more about the sport changes please visit: https://www.specialolympics.ca/sites/default/files/SOBC_ReturnToSportPlan_ProgramProgressions_08-10-20.pdf.

Currently we are asking for all athletes and volunteers to fill out their registration forms so that we have your updated information and can keep you informed as more programs and training opportunities are announced. Considering that many athletes won’t be able to participate we will not be collecting a registration fee at this time.

We are exploring virtual training opportunities that will help all athletes get active and healthy during this time and hope to bring you more information on that soon.

To read Special Olympics BC’s full return to sport plan please visit: https://www.specialolympics.ca/british-columbia/return-sport.

We’re getting closer to training again with the announcement by SOBC that a Return to Sport (RTS) plan has been developed and can be found on their website including highlights for athletes. You’ll see that they have put the safety of our volunteers, athletes and staff as the top priority in this plan. I encourage everyone to take some time to read the plan as it will give you a better sense of what you program may look like when it starts running again.

SOBC’s return to sport plan includes 12 pilot programs, in four sports (bocce, track, Club Fit and golf) running until the first week of August. Nanaimo has not been chosen to run any of the pilot programs but once the pilot programs are complete these sports may be opened to our Local.

SOBC will be working over the summer to get the specific sport plans ready for our fall sports and we will share this info with you as soon as we’re able to.

If you have any questions about the Return to Sport plan, SOBC has put together a FAQ that may answer it for you.

We thank you for your patience as we work through these tough times and look forward to getting back to sport as soon as we can!!

If you have SO Nanaimo stories, results and pictures to share for the newsletter please send them to SOnewsnanaimo. Feedback on the newsletter always welcome!

We’re excited to see some of the sports fields and training venues re-opening around town for modified usage. We know everyone is missing their programs but wanted to send out a reminder that we don’t have approval to return to sport yet and we’re unsure of when that announcement may come.

SOBC is working hard on return to play plans for each program to ensure all protocols and procedures are up to Government and Provincial Health standards. The plans are not a return to normal, but rather to a “new normal” which will require everyone to modify their behavior, stay informed, apply protective measures and follow public health advice.

You may have noticed many of the other sport organizations that are announcing return to play plans are focused on small groups and skill training mostly. Be prepared that your program may look different upon our return.

While we await more information we encourage everyone to continue to stay active and eat well. We will do our best to keep everyone updated as we move forward. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

If you have SO Nanaimo stories, results and pictures to share for the newsletter please send them to SOnewsnanaimo. Feedback on the newsletter always welcome!