Special Olympics Nebraska offers 19 different sports. Athletes
must train for 8 weeks before competing at any area or state
competition. They must place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd at the area level
in order to advance to any state level competition.
Special Olympics Nebraska offers several “Unified” sports
which brings together athletes with and without intellectual
disabilities who train and compete as a team. The hope is that
these individuals will not only be teammates on the court but
friends off the court.
Please click here for the 2009 Sports Competition Schedule:
2009 Competition Schedule
2010 NATIONAL GAMES
Special Olympics North America has announced that Lincoln/Omaha has been selected to host the 2010 Special Olympics U.S. National Games. Click here for full Press Release
Pictures from Press Conference announcing site selection:
SONE Athlete/Board Member Jason Gieschen
Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler
SONE President/CEO Chuck Cooper
SONA Director of Sports Greg Epperson
STATE COMPETITIONS AND SPORTS OFFERED
2009 Summer Games Schedule
2009 Summer Games Group Volunteer Reg. Form
2009 Summer Games Individual Volunteer Form
Summer Games
This is our biggest state competition held during the year.
Every May, over 1,500 athletes come to Omaha to compete in this
3 day event. Creighton University and other venues in Omaha are
host to the seven sports offered at the games.
Aquatics is an individual or team sport. Athletes
can choose from a variety of strokes to compete including freestyle,
backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, or individual medley. For
those interested in a team effort, relays are offered in both
the freestyle and medley format. Athletes of lower ability levels
are able to compete in the walk, flotation race, assisted and
unassisted swim.
Athletics, also called Track and Field, is
held at Benson High School. Competition is provided in the following
categories: walking, running, wheelchair, throwing (softball,
shot put, and javelin), standing and running long jump, high
jump and pentathlon.
Gymnastics is a growing sport. More and more
athletes, both male and female, are competing at our Summer Games
every year because it is a great individual sport. Competition
is provided in the following areas: wide beam, floor, vault,
uneven bars, pommel horse, rings, parallel bars, and horizontal
bar. Athletes are able to compete individually in each area or
in the all-around competition which combines their score for
each individual event.
Golf is a great individual or team sport.
Athletes can compete in the following categories: individual
skills, individual stroke play (9 hole), or unified team (9 hole,
alternate shot).
Powerlifting is another sport that continues
to see more athletes participating every year. It is an individual
sport in which athletes train year around. At competitions, they
compete in the following areas: squat, benchpress, deadlift,
combination-benchpress and deadlift, and combination-benchpress,
deadlift, and squat.
Rollerskating offers something for every level
of ability. Athletes can compete in the 100m, 300m, 500m, and
1000m races, in relays or in the 30m straight line or slalom
for the lower ability levels.
Volleyball is a Traditional and Unified team
sport. It also offers something for those of lower abilities
which includes an individual and team skills contest, volleyball
juggle, pass, toss and hit.
See the schedule of summer games venues, dates,
times, and locations
Winter Games
Our winter sports are held every January in Atkinson, KS. Over
300 athletes from Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas,
and Arkansas compete over the two-day event. Nebraska athletes
compete in the following sports.
Alpine Skiing, also called “downhill” skiing,
is an individual sport for the snow enthusiast. Athletes can
compete in downhill, giant slalom and slalom events.
Cross Country Skiing - This is an individual
sport where participants wear thin skis to race on a level surface
of snow. Competition includes 25m, 50m, 100m, 500m, or 1K races.
Floor Hockey is a team sport consisting of
5 players using hockey sticks to maneuver a puck past the “goalie” to
score points. Similar to ice hockey but played on a gym floor.
Snowshoeing is an individual sport similar
to Cross Country Skiing but participants wear snowshoes (usually
constructed of a lightweight aluminum with a metal claw) that
strap to their snowboots. Races are usually conducted on a level
surface of snow and are held in lengths of 50m, 100m, 200m, or
400m.
Sports Classic
Over 900 athletes participate in our Annual Sports Classic. The event features four different sports held at
various locations throughout Lincoln. Athletes are able to compete
in the following events.
Bowling is one our most popular sports. Most
athletes are able to participate in this sport. During the Sports Classic, bowling is offered in singles, and ramp (assisted and
unassisted) doubles or four person teams.
Bocce is a game that originated out of Italy.
It is played on a long narrow court (12’x 60’). Each
player starts with four balls. Players try to roll their ball
as close to the object ball or otherwise called “pallina” (a
white smaller ball) as possible. Competition is offered in singles,
doubles, and team competition, as well as unified doubles and
team.
Softball consist of several competition opportunities
including slow pitch (traditional and unified) and tee ball competition.
Soccer Soccer skills and five-on-five competition are offered at this competition.
Equestrian
Fonner Park in Grand Island is the location for this state
competition. Events are organized to provide opportunities for all ability levels. Over 80 athletes currently
compete in this sport. The following activities occur during
competition: stock seat equitation, working trails, showmanship
at halter/bridle classes, pole bending, and barrel racing.
Unified Bowling
Because of the number of participants competing in this sport,
it is offered separate from Summer Games bowling and is divided
into East and West competition. The west tournament is held in
North Platte and the east tournament is held in Bellevue. It
is strictly team competition (2 or 4 person) consisting of athletes
with and without intellectual disabilities coming together to
compete on one team.
Basketball
This state competition is held every spring in Lincoln at Northeast
and East High Schools. Over 900 athletes from throughout the
state compete in this one day competition. Athletes can compete
at different levels including skills, 3-on-3 half court, or 5-on-5
full court (both regular and unified).
Tennis
This event is held at Tranquility Park in Omaha. Competition is available in Singles, Doubles and Unified. Tennis Skills are also offered.
Sports Information Guide 1-08
Team Information Guide 1-08
Bocce Rules Bocce Rules
