PAPILLION, Neb. (February 21, 2022) - Union Omaha and Forward Madison FC, in conjunction with Special Olympics Nebraska and Special Olympics Wisconsin, announced today the establishment of the Unified Soccer Series. The Unified Soccer Series is the first of its kind within the United Soccer League (USL) and will consist of two matches, one in Omaha, Neb. and one in Madison, Wis. featuring Special Olympics Unified teams from both states. The matches, scheduled for July 26 in Madison and August 31 in Omaha, will be played surrounding 2022 USL League One match-ups between Union Omaha and Forward Madison and will provide an opportunity for the Unified players (with and without intellectual disabilities) to play on the same pitch as their partner teams.
The RMS Unified Soccer team consists of nine athletes and five mentor partners from both the seventh and eighth grades. The athletes and partners train and compete together.
Students at the University of Nebraska Medical Center-Kearney were awarded the Golisano Health Leadership Award on Friday.
Kids Klub participants get active at Little Feet Meet
Athlete Correspondent, Melissa Giersch recaps the 2019 Fall Games!
Athlete Ambassador, Melissa Giersch wrote this article to celebrate 50 years of Special Olympics!
Check out the press release for the announcement of our very own Team Nebraska competing at the 2018 USA Games in Seattle July 1st-6th!
Melissa Giersch describes this year's Champions Together Luncheon how important being Unified can be!
Athlete Melissa Giersch gives her recap of the Police Ball held earlier this year!
Check out Hall of Famer, Melissa Giersch's recap of All Star Tennis Event last month!
Read about the exciting events during his time in NE and how SONE is reaching new heights in health and inclusion.
Learn all about our 2016 Champions Together Luncheon in this recap by athlete Melissa Giersch!
Click here to learn all about this years Big Red Raffle Results! Special Olympics Nebraska held the Big Red Raffle Drawing Nov, 8th at 1pm. Congratulations to our winners and all our teams for such a successful year!
Read all about athlete Melissa Giersch's tribute to Eunice Kennedy Shriver in honor of Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day, Sept. 24th 2016.
2016 Fall Games Recap by Melissa!
Read up on her experience at this year's Fall Games. From the weather scare to the competitions. Plus some motivational words to her fellow athletes!
The UNL Women's Soccer Team has invited Special Olympics Nebraska to attend Sunday, September 4th game! Free admission for athletes and coaches, and also gets to create a tunnel on the field for UNL's Team to enter the game under! Special Olympics also gets to go on the field during half-time to be recognized and show a video to raise awareness and support. Sign-up today for this awesome opportunity!
Special Olympics Nebraska is honored to announce the selection of Kelly Pritchett, Au.D., CCC-A, of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, as its 2016 Golisano Health Leadership Award honoree.
SONE needs you!! Vote for student Stephen Meuret on Facebook for the Family Fare Perfect Picnic Contest! Voting ends July 27th.
The Summer Heroes Reception was held at the Sokol arena from 5:30 - 6:45 pm May 19th 2016. The food was so good and everything was very elegant. The desserts were also very good--I loved them! I had a chance to meet Cassadee Pope and give her some advice for if she ever wanted to be a tennis player to never give up.
Saturday, April 16th the 3rd annual Policeman's Ball was held at the Hilton hotel in Omaha. The Special Olympic athletes who attended this elegant and fancy event this year were JD Mossberg, Michael Boehmer, Kristina Davey, Grace Greenwood, Cassie Lacey, Joey Drawl last but not least Melissa Giersch.
Special Olympic athletes in Lincoln are now training for the City’s first Strider Cup Race from
9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday, June 11 in the Railyard.
SpartanNash’s 2016 Nebraska Healthy Athlete of the Year, Jason Gieschen, will be visiting SpartanNash stores to sign autographs, talk with media and meet customers.
Special Olympics Nebraska Awarded Three-Year, $60,000 Grant To Focus On Improved Health For Local Athletes. Expanding health programming for people with intellectual disabilities beings this month. As people across the globe recognize World Health Day today, Special Olympics Nebraska will begin expanded health programming for people with intellectual disabilities...
Special Olympics Nebraska is proud to once again be participating in Omaha Gives! - a 24 hour charitable challenge organized by the Omaha Community Foundation. The online giving holiday will take place May 25 from midnight to midnight.
For many Special Olympics Nebraska athletes, Spring Games represents the culmination of a year’s worth of training and regional competition to qualify for the opportunity compete at the state level.
This weekend, over 1,200 Special Olympics Nebraska athletes will test their skills in bowling and basketball.
Special Olympics athletes, leaders, and family members from 39 states will converge on Capitol Hill on February 10 for Special Olympics’ 14th annual “Capitol Hill Day.” Throughout the day, Special Olympics athletes from across the nation will hold more than 250 face-to-face meetings with their Congressional representatives to advocate for continued federal support for critical health and education services provided by Special Olympics.
UnitedHealthcare will present Special Olympics Nebraska with $10,000 to support its “Healthy Athletes” program designed to help Special Olympics athletes improve their health and fitness.
The holiday party was a lot of fun. There were a lot of people, and the food was really good. My favorite were the chocolate desserts. Carolyn Chamberlain, Special Olympics Nebraska CEO, opened up the holiday party by speaking about Special Olympics, the history of it, and expanding our program.
The Champions Together Luncheon was held Wednesday October 21st, 2015 at Happy Hollow Country Club. The lunch was good, and everyone who spoke did such an amazing job. The stories were very inspirational.
Special Olympics Nebraska is honored to accept a grant of $20,000 from the Omaha First Responders Foundation's "Kerrie On" fund in honor of fallen officer Kerrie Orozco.
And the winners of the 2016 Big Red Raffle are....
:::drumroll, please:::
Special Olympics Nebraska is proud to nominate West Point coach Barb Rolf as the Special Olympics North America Coach of the Year.
Barb has been involved with Special Olympics Nebraska for 34 years! She has coached Athletics, Soccer, Flag Football, Softball, Basketball, Bowling, Unified Bowling...
Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day (September 26) is an annual celebration of her life and a global call for people to live in a more unified society -- in sport, in the community and in the work place. By committing acts of inclusion, acceptance and unity for and with people with intellectual disabilities, we will continue to build on the legacy of Eunice Kennedy Shriver.
This was the amazing summer to “Reach Up” for inclusion, acceptance, honor, courage, respect and joy at the 2015 Special Olympics Summer World Game in Los Angeles. Scot Caldwell from Gallup who is my International Global Messenger Mentor and I arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on July 23 and hit the ground running—literally.
Grab your family and friends and head down to Granite City in Omaha or Lincoln this Thursday, August 27! Our friends at Granite City are hosting a Dine 2 Donate day to benefit Special Olympics Nebraska!
Want to know what growth looks like? Want to know why what we're doing is important here? Today, one of our athletes spoke at a ceremony at Toyota's campus in town. When he got to the stage, his speech wasn't there and he had to wing it.
There are over 200 million people in the world with intellectual disabilities. They come from all walks of life, all races, all social classes. Regardless of which combination of those they come from, they all deserve love, inclusion, and acceptance.
"As we were getting back on the bus, Sam said: "If I could just give them one day." There are times when just a few words hit with a weight like a hammer, and that's what Sam's did. I started to wonder the same thing, but then I realized that it wasn't that long ago that these children would have been cast aside rather than given an opportunity to learn and develop in a school..."
"The group on our bus started the week as three different teams: 2, 8, and 10. That includes three athletes that I've mentioned before: Daniela, William, and Cody. Over the course of a few days, sharing the same bus has blurred the lines between teams and resulted in a family that we call Route 3..."
"At every ceremony, one peace officer and one athlete speak about their experiences with the Torch Run and Special Olympics. Tonight in Palm Springs, Gumi told a story. My roommate Gumi, is a police officer from Iceland. He's an immensely kind-hearted, generous man who is so excited to be here, that his enthusiasm rubs off on everyone he meets..."
Law Enforcement and Special Olympics have a long relationship, dating back to 1981. Since then, it's a movement that's exploded, growing roots that have entwined both athletes and peace officers together in what feels like an almost symbiotic relationship.
Update: the torch is heavy. I couldn't give you the actual weight of it, but it doesn't take long for it to feel like it weighs fifty pounds! Here's the thing; I think it should be heavy.
The 2015 Los Angeles Final Leg has begun in California! Nebraska is proud to be represented on this Final Leg by Sgt. Tony Kavan of the Nebraska State Patrol Academy.
We received a fantastic update from Sgt. Kavan on the road with the Final Leg team delivering the Flame of Hope to the Special Olympics World Games Los Angeles 2015 Opening Ceremonies. Sgt. Kaven and his team ran the torch through Northern California.
We are busy in the state office preparing for 2015 Fall Games! The games will be held August 7th-9th in Lincoln Nebraska and will include Softball, Bocce, Tennis, Soccer and Golf.
