what sup in Area M Join us at March 19th April 19th

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1 what sup up Spring 2018 in Area M Join us at Help support the 49th Annual Area M Games! All local Applebee s restaurants will have donation cards featuring Area M athletes from March 19th April 19th to raise money for Area M Games held at Messiah College on April 19th. Applebee s is a long time partner of Area M and we can t thank them enough for all of the support they give to our program! Enjoy a delicious meal at any of the following Applebee s locations and don t forget to make a donation while you are there! Carlisle Colonial Park Ephrata Harrisburg Mall Hershey Lancaster Mechanicsburg York Applebee s is Awesome! Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry and Northern York Counties PO Box Miller Street Summerdale, PA

2 2018FUNdraisers Special Olympics PA Area M will be participating in the Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community at HACC on Saturday, May 19th. We receive 100% of the funds raised by the walkers/ teams that register with us! Walkers that raise $30 will receive an event t-shirt. Walkers that raise $100 or more will receive a special gift from Area M! Thank you to the Middletown Branch of TruGreen for selecting our program to receive a $2500 donation in recognition of them winning the nationwide Lawn Stars contest! Members of the local TruGreen branch attended our Speed Skating competition and presented the check to us. We are very thankful to be selected as your charity of choice. THANK YOU! Registration will open at 7:45am and the 5K walk will begin at 9am. The One-Mile Fun Walk begins at 9:15am. Come out and join us at this fun and healthy event! Register today at Carlisle Moose Family Center Donation Thank you to the Carlisle Moose Family Center for their very generous end of year donation! We greatly appreciate your support! Marlee Starliper A HERO! Gatorade Player of the Year Donation Marlee Starliper, Northern York HS sophomore, was recently recognized as the Gatorade PA Girls Cross Country Runner of the Year! As part of the Gatorade Play It Forward program, all Gatorade Player of the Year athletes have the opportunity to select a youth sports organization to receive a $1,000 grant and Marlee selected our program! THANK YOU Marlee for donating your Gatorade Play It Forward grant to help support the athletes of Special Olympics PA Area M! #GatoradePOY 2 Take me out to the ballgame! Area M night at the Harrisburg Senators will be on Friday, June 15th as they take on the Richmond Flying Squirrels (SF Giants affiliate) at 7pm. You can look forward to fireworks after the game! Athletes can receive a FREE ticket to the game! All others can purchase tickets through Area M for $11 ($4 will be donated back to our program). All tickets will be in the same section of the ballpark. Contact Viki at viki.burgess@gmail.com or the Area M office at for tickets.

3 AUGUST IS SPECIAL OLYMPICS PA AREA M MONTH AT ALL KARNS STORES! BE A CELEBRITY. The Annual Torch Sale at all local Karns stores will be held during the month of August. Last year over $35,000 was raised! We can t wait to see the 2018 total! Celebrity Bagger dates are August 4th, 15th and 25th. August 4th and 25th (Saturdays) will be 10am 2pm and Wed, Aug 15th will be 5pm 8pm. If you are interested in being a Celebrity Bagger please contact Kristie at the Area M office or kdavis.aream@specialolympicspa.org Any athlete with a current medical on file is eligible to be a Celebrity Bagger. $1 AREA M PLU540 Thank You for Supporting Special Olympics! Athlete Leadship Athletes Leading Area M into the Future! Do you enjoy talking about your experiences with Special Olympics with others? Do you want people to know what Special Olympics means to you? Would you like to be a part of the future of Special Olympics? If you can answer yes to any of these questions then maybe you should consider being on the Athlete Leadership Team! As a member of the ALT you will have the opportunity to share ideas with other athletes, help to spread the word about Special Olympics, take part in Opening Ceremonies, and be a role model to your fellow athletes. This year, one of the team s goals is to help athletes understand Healthy Habits; this is a program that has been developed by SOPA, and Area M s ALT is learning more about it so that they can share with everyone. In fact, look for a table at Area M Games in April where there will be information for you. And, if you were at the Valentine s Day Dance, you probably had a great time this was made possible by the Athlete Leadership Team! The Valentine s Day Dance is another of the team s goals. The team members were responsible for getting DJ Tommy, decorating, providing the cookies, chips, and drinks. It was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it! If you would like to be a part of this exciting team, talk to your coach, look for the application on the Area M website (sopam.org), or contact Kristie (kdavis.aream@specialolympicspa.org) or Jan Holt (holt81173@msn.com). The team looks forward to having you join them! 50 Years of Empowerment The movement known worldwide as Special Olympics began simply as the idea of one extraordinary woman with extraordinary vision. Eunice Kennedy Shriver believed that people with intellectual disabilities were far more capable in sports and physical activities than many experts thought. And so, the world s largest amateur sports organization began as a day camp in the backyard of Eunice and Sargent Shriver. Mrs. Shriver organized the first International Special Olympics Games in Held at Chicago s Soldier Field, the event consisted of 1,000 athletes from 26 states and Canada competing in track & field, swimming and floor hockey. With more than 5 million athletes in over 170 countries, Special Olympics has come a long way since the first Games at Soldier Field, Chicago in There will be a 50th Anniversary Celebration in Chicago in July. In 2019, Special Olympics PA Area M will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Area M Games! Watch for more information on how we will be celebrating this Area M milestone. 3

4 SPORTS RE-CAP WINTER GAMES H H SOPA s Winter Games was held at Seven Springs Resort and Kirk Nevin Arena January 28th 30th. Area M had athletes competing in Alpine Skiing and Ice Speed Skating. The Ski Team came home with a total of 24 medals but more impressive is that all but 2 of the Athletes were in the top 4 heats! We would have more medals, but the last race on Tuesday was canceled because of the Ski Patrols concerns about safety due to the weather and snow conditions. Everyone on the Ski Team had a great time! ~ Head Coach Kathy Charron Another Winter Games another outstanding season for Area M Speed Skaters! The long hard speed skating season came to close at 2018 Winter Games with exceptional opportunities, effort and results by our dedicated group of Short Track Speed Skaters. ~ Head Coach Brett Eshenour Some highlights are listed below. l Aaron Barnes had the honor of lighting the Cauldron for the 2018 Winter Games and started things off for Area M doing an exceptional job. l Over the two-day skating event which was packed with great races, crazy crashes and all the wonder and excitement that is short track, our athletes and partners produced 66 personal records and seasons bests. They mined 28 Gold, 21 silver, 11 bronze and 5 4th place awards! Outstanding job by all of our athletes and partners! l The Area M Speed Skaters also had the opportunity to demonstrate a proposal for a new Traditional Relay event they had been working diligently on in practice. Area M invited the other participating programs to join in on the demonstration with guidance from our outstanding Unified Partners. The feedback from Athletes, Coaches, Meet Officials was unbridled enthusiasm for the new event which even earned a nickname The Funky Relay! The proposal for this event has been submitted to SOPA and after evaluation hopefully to SOI to be included as a new entry level medal event in future Winter Games. l Area M Speed Skaters, Unified Partners, Coaches and parents are all looking forward to the new Indoor Winter Games to be held in York during March of 2019! HHHH 4

5 IUS Interscholastic Unified Sports (IUS) in the Greater Harrisburg Area grew by 2 high schools this year. Halifax HS and Upper Dauphin Area HS enjoyed their second seasons of Unified Indoor Bocce. Northern HS and Columbia HS joined us for their first seasons. The Regional Championship was held at Northern HS on Tuesday, February 27th. It was a great afternoon of competition with some very close matches. Upper Dauphin Area HS won the gold medal and will be representing the Greater Harrisburg Area at the PA IUS Indoor Bocce Championship being held on March 22nd at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Prelims will be held on the 21st at Northern HS) We will all be cheering on UDAHS as they go for the gold! Northern 1 Silver Columbia Bronze IUS Teams Upper Dauphin Gold Northern 2 Fourth Halifax Fifth FLOOR HOCKEY Area M RECAP Area M hosted a Floor Hockey Invitational at Susquenita High School on Saturday, February 24th. There were 10 teams this year, which is 2 more than 2017! Adams, Clinton, Delaware, Lebanon, Northumberland/Snyder, York and Area M had teams competing. Everyone did well and had a great time! Thank you to all of the volunteers and coaches that made this competition possible! SOPA s Floor Hockey competition was held March 3rd 4th at Bald Eagle HS and Penn State University. Area M had 2 teams and 10 skills athletes competing. Our Skills Athletes brought home 3 gold medals, 1 silver medal, 4 bronze medals and a 5th place ribbon. Our teams brought home gold medals (Transformers) and silver medals (Avengers). Everyone had a great time! 5

6 AREA M GAMES! The 49th Annual Area M Games will be held on Thursday, April 19th at Messiah College. We are excited to be back in the pool this year! We will have over 1,100 athletes competing in Athletics and Swimming. Athlete registration was due on March 2nd. We need over 2,000 volunteers for this event. If you are interested in volunteering please visit the Area M Games page of our website or contact Kristie at We will be missing one of our long-time volunteers this year. Michael Zerby was an integral part of this event for over 20 years. Michael passed away after a battle with cancer in January. We will miss him dearly and know that he will be there in spirit. NATIONAL GAMES GOOD LUCK! Team PA is headed to Seattle Washington July 1-7, 2018 to compete in Nationals Games. Area M will be well represented on Team PA sending 12 athletes and 4 coaches. Adam Smith will be attending as a Swimmer, Joey Rank as a Bowler and Tasha Bretz, Dena Russ, Adaira McNaughton, Ethan North, Matt Mausner, Eugene Ferriera, Gary Williams, Jamey Carst, Tim McConnell and Christopher Nichols as Team PA Basketball. Clyde North, Eddie Wright and Shannon Pechart will be attending as Basketball Coaches and Taryn Mockus will be attending as the Assitant Coach for Athletics. We wish them all the best of luck! Bring home the Gold. ExerciseClasses coming soon! We will soon be offering exercise classes at the Marysville Lions Club on Monday evenings. We are hoping to start in April. We are looking for fitness instructors (Zumba, Pound, Yoga, Aerobics, etc.) to donate their time. If you or someone you know is interested in teaching a class please contact Maryellen at snickersbrown5@gmail.com. Watch our Facebook page for more information as classes get scheduled! Flag Football Flag Football training will be moving back to the Summer months. Local programs across the state are moving their training seasons to May July. The coaches will be in touch as soon as the training schedule is confirmed. Watch our website and Facebook page for more information. The 8th Annual Spring Thing will be held at Cumberland Valley High School on Sunday, May 20th. We will be offering competition in Athletics, Basketball, Softball and Tennis at this invitational. For any questions or needed information on this event contact Shannon Pechart at areamsports@specialolympicspa.org or call Area M

7 13TH ANNUAL CAPITAL AREA POLAR PLUNGE The 13th Annual Capital Area Polar Plunge was held at Gifford Pinchot State Park on Saturday, January 20th. The event was originally scheduled to be held at Harrisburg s City Island, but due to large ice jams on the Island we made the decision to change locations for everyone s safety. We had 314 registered participants who raised over $105,000 to support the athletes of Special Olympics PA Area M! THANK YOU to all of our Sponsors, Partners and Volunteers! We couldn t hold such an amazing and fun event without you! Event Sponsors Aerotek, Geico, Harrisburg Area Freemasons and Cale Electric Media Partners ABC27 (Eric Finkenbinder), KISSFM (Sam Kelly) and WHP580 (RJ Harris) Safety Partners Harrisburg River Rescue, Dover Ambulance Services and PA Constables Drinks, Food and Fun Partners Dunkin Donuts, Bricker s French Fries, Roger That Photography and DJ Tommy A special thank you to our ice cutters Ryan, Corey and Bub you guys ROCK!! 7

8 We love our athletes and thank our coaches and volunteers. YOU ARE AWESOME!!! 2018 special dates Events w Area M Games April 19 w Central Spring Sectionals April 29 w Highmark Walk for a Healthy Community May 19 w Spring Thing May 20 w Summer Games May 31 June 2 w Nationals July 1-7 w Fall Classic September 16 w Central Fall Sectionals September 23 w Awards Gala October 7 w Fall Festival November 2-4 Dances 6:30 8:30pm w End of Summer Dance Friday, August 17 w Halloween Dance Friday, October 26 w Christmas Dance Friday, December 14 Remember to always check our Website at for updates and changes to the calendar. Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt. - Special Olympics Athlete Oath follow us on specialolympicspaaream 8