Program areas at SOMI
Special Olympics Michigan provides year-round programs for over 15,020 children and adults with intellectual disabilities and unified partners (athletes without intellectual disabilities). Through sport, athletes experience inclusion, unity, dignity, respect, joy and friendship. They develop physically and socially; gain confidence and build a positive self-image which carries over into the home, classroom, job and community. Young athletes programs for 2 to 7 year-olds are offered to introduce children and their families to the world of sports. There are 2,182 children participating in young athlete programs throughout the state. The somi program relies on contributions of time, materials and funds from donors and volunteers.
Unified champion schools is an education-based strategy that brings together students with and without intellectual disabilities in three core areas: unified sports, whole school engagement & awareness and inclusive youth leadership. Utilizing these three core elements creates a school atmosphere that is more inclusive and acceptance. Somi finished the 23-24 school year with 554 schools, including more than 100 schools in detroit public schools community district. We also trained more than 1,000 students at our leadership launch youth summits and hosted more than 350 students at unified bocce competition at the state summer games.
Healthy athletes programs provide free health screenings to athletes. Over 2,284 athletes participated in health screenings for vision, dental, physicals, feet, hearing, and health promotions. Healthy athletes screenings are held at state events for vision, hearing, dental, foot care, physical therapy, and health physicals at no cost to athletes or their families. These screenings educate athletes on healthy lifestyle choices and identify problems that may need additional follow-up. Additionally, 6 inclusive health trainings were held to educate current and future healthcare workers about creating an inclusive healthcare environment. Finally, over 255 athletes participated in our somifit program providing 8 weeks of fitness activities mixed with educational material on health and wellness in person.
Special Olympics michigna, Inc. somi is organized into 36 geographicl, local, sub-accredited programs for athletes to train and compete in or near their home communities. Athletes can choose from 24 sports including alpine skiing, athletics, basketball, bocce, bowling, cross-county skiing, cycling, figure skating, golf, gymnastics - artistic and rhythmic, horseshoes, poly hockey, power lifting, soccer, snowboarding, snowshoeing, softball, speed skating, swimming, volleyball, flag football, kayaking, and weightlifting. Somi also offers a motor activities training program designed for individuals with severe and profound disabilities, or who do not yet possess the physical or behavioral skills needed to participate in official Special Olympics sports. All programs are offered at no cost to athletes and their families. Participants have returned to in-person programmingwith the following results: stat esummer games with 1,073 athletes, fall games with 249 athletes along with 52 unified partners, state softball/soccer with a total of 407 athletes and 13 unified partners, poly hockey and bowling with 394 athletes and 61 unified partners. Somi offered virtual, at home and in person sports training and competition opportunities. These activities included weekly virtual fit friday workouts, at home equipment kids for young athletes, at home training programs for athletes and frequent virtual athlete social activities. We also continued our athlete leadership curriculum, training more than 60 athletes in public speaking, career readiness, social media and leadership development training. We also continued hosting athlete leadership lunch and learn programs that had athletes attending to learn many different topics. Somi is a volunteer-driven organization with 22,199 volunteers throughout Michigan. Volunteers serve as coaches, chaperones, state and area event volunteers, area directors, and area management team members. Area programs offer sports training and competition within a geographic location under the guidelines and direction of somi. Coaches are required to become certified in the sport they coach. Somi provides coach training programs for all sports offered. Somi publishes a quarterly electronic newsletter with more than 28,000 suscribers, maintains a website at www.somi.org, and engages in popular social media channels including facebook, instagram, twitter, linkedin, and youtube.