Athletes and Unified partners across Vermont have been doing an excellent job getting their weekly movement/exercise minutes in and staying active outside of the regular sports season! Read on to learn more about their at home fitness challenge accomplishments!
This fall, Special Olympics North America (SONA) offered a second installment of the SONA Move Challenge, an 8-week at-home movement challenge where participants track how many minutes they exercise each week. The #SONAMove Challenge was first offered this spring. During #SONAMove, athletes and Unified partners learn about different health themes and are encouraged to complete social challenges along the way!
Our athletes and Unified partners are currently in Week 5 of the challenge, and their efforts so far have been stellar! Click here to see SOVT athlete Katharine Breunig completing the Week 5 social challenge of representing your favorite sports team while exercising!
SOVT Health Messenger and Athlete Leader Kate Bove assisted the state office in recruiting participants and spreading the word about the Fall #SONAMove Challenge (thank you so much, Kate!). You can watch her Health Messenger videos here! Kate (along with her brother Hayden) is participating in #SONAMove on the Unified team, "Friends of SOVT."
SOVT has over 70 athletes and Unified partners participating in the Fall SONA Move Challenge. Our Vermont program is currently ranked 9th in the U.S.A. in total movement/exercise minutes - incredible! Some other notable statistics and highlights from our SOVT program include:
SOVT athlete Bethany Davis, of the Upper Valley Hawks local program, is currently ranked 6th in the nation in movement minutes on the Individual Leaderboard! That's 6th out of 1,534 athlete participants - wow!
SOVT's "Friends of SOVT" Unified team is currently ranked 2nd in the nation on the Teams Leaderboard! The Friends of SOVT team consists of athletes: Kate Bove (Chittenden County), Katharine Breunig (Windham County), Courtney Cowan (Bennington County), Bethany Davis (Upper Valley) and Maddie Honigman (Chittenden County). The team's Unified partners are: Hayden Bove, Eva Clark (SOVT Staff Member), Jordan Davis and Ellie Smith.
SOVT Unified Team "The Bulldogs" consists of SOVT athletes Bennett Townley (Chittenden County), Karl Dooling (Northshire), Kyle Dooling (Northshire), and Nicole Villemaire (Chittenden), and Unified partners: SOVT Board Member and former Board Chair Ed Townley, key volunteer Jenn Townley, and SOVT President & CEO Missy Shea!
SOVT local program Addison County has two #SONAMove teams participating in the challenge, thanks to HOD's Karen Nawn-Fahey and Polly Wilson (they are also participating as Unified partners)! SOVT Athlete Board Member Sean Fahey is participating on one of the Addison teams!
Unified Champion School Rivendell Academy registered a team for the #SONAMove Challenge! Other SOVT teams and Unified pairs consist of families tackling the challenge together!
Three SOVT program participants have been selected by Special Olympics North America as #MoversoftheWeek throughout the challenge! Be sure to check out their features below!
SONA Move participants can keep tabs on their national rankings via the SONA Move Dashboard. Additionally, SONA is posting weekly #WellnessWednesday workouts to their YouTube Channel throughout the challenge. We encourage the SOVT community to try them out! Click here to try a #WellnessWednesday workout!
Announcing Week 5 SONA Mover of the Week: Jules Madison!
Of the 1,958 total SONA Move Challenge participants across the country, Special Olympics North America (SONA) recently selected SOVT athlete Jules Madison as the Week 5 Mover of the Week! Jules has been crushing his weekly exercise, wracking up 400+ movement minutes each week with activities like soccer, hiking, gymnastics, and yard work with his family! Check out his #SONAMove Spotlight below:
Announcing Week 3 SONA Movers of the Week: Eli Weintraub & Mica Tucker!
A few weeks ago, SONA named SOVT Unified Doubles pair Eli Weintraub and his Unified partner (& mother!) Mica Tucker as the Week 3 Movers of the Week! Mica said, "We joined the #SONAMove challenge because in our family exercise is critical to keeping us happy and positive. We knew with fall and the cold weather coming that we’d need an extra incentive to keep up our good summer exercise. The friendly competition with our SONA friends is keeping smiles on our faces! Eli’s goal is to exercise for 2,520 minutes and to improve his swimming stroke (if we can ever get back into the pool at CCBA). Mine is to reach 2,240 minutes and develop a daily exercise habit. " Check out their #SONAMove Spotlight below:
The Fall #SONAMove Challenge challenge kicked off on September 13th, and will run through November 7th. Athletes can participate as individuals, in a Doubles pair (traditional or Unified), or on a team consisting of 3-10 people (traditional, Unified, or College). Click here to learn more.
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