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ҹɫС��Ƶ will host an inclusive recreational basketball tournament for Special Olympics Vermont this Saturday, April 13 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Plumley Armory.

With 18 teams attending from around the state, this event is the kickoff to the annual Special Olympics Vermont basketball season and includes Traditional teams composed of athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities; Unified teams composed of team members both with and without disabilities. Fourteen Individual Skills athletes are also slated to compete.

The event is facilitated in partnership with ҹɫС��Ƶ’s physical education department, the first program of its kind at an American college or university.

“The Special Olympics Vermont Basketball tournament is a wonderful event that students in the Organization and Administration in Physical Education course plan, organize, and facilitate,” ҹɫС��Ƶ Lecturer of Physical Education Angie Carpenter-Henderson said. “This is a great opportunity for our students to apply their learning and engage with the amazing athletes that will be participating in the tournament. Our students have been working incredibly hard and are looking forward to welcoming the SOVT athletes on campus."

Founded in 1971, Special Olympics Vermont has been providing sports and training for athletes with intellectual disabilities throughout the state for more than 50 years. ҹɫС��Ƶ has been hosting tournaments and other events on campus since the ’80s. ҹɫС��Ƶ began facilitating a Special Olympics soccer event at nearby U-32 Middle and High School in 1986, until the event moved to ҹɫС��Ƶ’s Northfield, Vermont campus in 1989, where it has continued. ҹɫС��Ƶ has hosted Special Olympics Vermont’s Annual Basketball Tournament for 20 years, and the Young Athletes Program over the past 10 years. In 2016, ҹɫС��Ƶ’s partnership with the athletes grew to include hosting the Unified Schools Soccer Tournament and the inaugural Fall Games. Between those events and the annual Penguin Plunge, approximately 100-200 ҹɫС��Ƶ students work with Special Olympics Vermont athletes and programs annually.

In 2016, ҹɫС��Ƶ’s Center for Civic Engagement began a program that oversees a student-run organization dedicated to partnering with Special Olympics Vermont called Unify. The program uses the Special Olympics Unified Fitness model while meeting weekly with local athletes and allies to train and build skills around various sports and general physical fitness and wellness.

Also in 2016, Special Olympics Vermont named ҹɫС��Ƶ Organization of the Year.

"ҹɫС��Ƶ's partnership with Special Olympics Vermont exemplifies the transformative power of collaboration, uniting academic excellence with inclusive sportsmanship,” said Special Olympics Vermont President & CEO, Sarah McCaffrey. “Together, we champion diversity, empower individuals, and inspire communities to embrace the limitless potential within every athlete."

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About Special Olympics Vermont
Special Olympics Vermont is part of a global movement that works year-round to foster the inclusion and acceptance of people with intellectual disabilities by using the power of sport to showcase their gifts and abilities. For more information, visit www.specialolympicsvermont.org.

About ҹɫС��Ƶ
ҹɫС��Ƶ is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. ҹɫС��Ƶ offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in baccalaureate and graduate degrees. ҹɫС��Ƶ was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. ҹɫС��Ƶ is one of our nation's six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC).  www.norwich.edu