Special Olympics
Thames Valley Special Olympics athletes enjoying their Fun First day in June 2020
KEEPING OUR ATHLETES SAFE 30
At the start of March, Special Olympics New Zealand (SONZ) was gearing up for the year’s much anticipated competition season. However, the COVID-19 crisis and resulting lockdown forced a halt to SONZ activity, leading to immense challenges for our athletes as their routines were disrupted and their connections to teammates restricted. For many athletes SONZ is a large and important part of their life. Athletes work to improve their physical health and gain important benefits to their self-esteem and confidence. Additionally, the social connections athletes foster through SONZ is huge. Athletes become very close to their fellow teammates and coaches, often socializing outside of their sports and forming lifelong friendships. Therefore, it was a big shock to the system when New Zealand went into lockdown and SONZ had to cease all activity. For our athletes this meant no training, no events and no seeing their teammates or coaches, which caused anxiety and stress. During this time, we worked to mitigate the stress
