Fall 2022 Newsletter
Days are getting shorter and colder, but we've been making the most of sunshine and perfect weather for all sorts of events, including one of our biggest sports competitions since the pandemic!
Fall Games
Northern Fall Games
On Saturday, September 17th, we kicked off our Fall Games weekend at Collins Perley Sports and Fitness Center where over 175 athletes from 8 different delegations joined us on a beautiful day for track and field, softball, and soccer competitions! We would like to extend a huge thank you to the team at Collins Perley, as well all our venue directors-- Tanner Petrie, Tony Kaigle, James LaMonda, and Ben Marlow. Volunteers from Mansfield Hall worked really hard in the Snack Shack to make sure our athletes had lunch in between their games or events. We also brought back FUNFitness and had our first Healthy Athletes screening since 2019 provided by the University of Vermont Department of Physical Therapy. Other numerous volunteers joined us on the day to help wherever possible and made the day incredibly enjoyable. Congratulations to all of our incredible athletes and coaches from the following delegations: Bellcate School, Caledonia County, Capital Region, Chittenden County, Franklin County, Orleans/Essex County, Randolph and Specialized Community Care!
Southern Fall Games
The Fall Games Southern Competition was held at Dana L. Thompson Park in Manchester on Sunday, September 18th. Over 80 athletes from 5 different delegations joined us on the beautiful day for track & field events, soccer, and recreational softball! We would like to thank our venue directors on the day, Tanner Petrie for track and field and board member Gary Sarachan as our soccer venue director. We would also like to extend a huge thank you to our newest board member, Julie Crosier and Burr and Burton Academy for supplying and running our timing for track events. We also had numerous Burr and Burton students volunteer on the day to provide help where possible, as well as a few members from the Middlebury College Unified Club. Congratulations to all athletes and coaches from the following participating delegations: Addison, Bennington, Castleton, Northshire and Rutland!
Fall Golf Competition
The Fall Games golf competition was held at Basin Harbor Club on Saturday, September 17th and a fun day was had by all! Over 50 athletes and partners teed it up on the golf course, or showed off their skills at the practice range. We owe a huge thank you to the staff at Basin Harbor, including golf professional, Jason Hughes and group sales manager, Brandy Companion for making the day so memorable! Of course our golf venue director, Kevin Plette, was amazing as always, and it was so great to have two board members, Riley Dickie and Sean Fahey, in attendance as well! Congratulations to all our incredible athletes for their achievements, it was so fun to enjoy a beautiful day with you at Basin Harbor!
Brattleboro Union High School Recognized as national Banner Unified Champion Banner School
In early September, it was announced that Brattleboro Union High School (BUHS) was named a National Banner Unified Champion School by Special Olympics. BUHS is one of a select number of schools across the country to receive this distinction and is the fourth school in Vermont to be recognized as a national banner school. To celebrate, the school organized a school-wide assembly on October 7th. Representatives from the Special Olympics Vermont team and board of directors were a part of this wonderful celebration and congratulated the entire school community for their work in creating a more inclusive environment. Students participated in a tournament-style rock, paper, scissors activity to highlight whole-school engagement and their support for one another. The celebration concluded with Bobby Petrie, one of the students that represented Vermont in the Youth Leadership Experience at 2022 USA Games, revealing their banner for the very first time.
Norwich Unified Soccer Tournament We held our Unified Champion Schools Soccer tournament on October 13th at Norwich University. We would like to extend a huge thank you to Norwich University but especially Scott Maxham and Angie Carpenter-Henderson for helping organize the event and for encouraging students to volunteer their time. We had 10 teams participate from 8 schools as well as BFA St. Albans coming down for some individual skills competitions. It was a great day at Norwich and the rain held off just long enough!
Upcoming Events
Young Athletes, January, Burlington VT
Registration open within the next month
Please reach out to rhamm@vtso.org for more information.
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Holiday Games, Dates and Venues TBD
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PENGUIN PLUNGE! February 4, 2023, Burlington Waterfront Click here to register
Visit penguinplunge.org for more information.
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