900 Special Olympics athletes to compete in 2022 Special Olympics North Carolina Summer Games in Raleigh this weekend

Bladen Journal, Elizabethtown, N.C.
·2 min read

Jun. 1—RALEIGH — The 2022 Special Olympics North Carolina Summer Games, to be held Friday through Sunday in the Raleigh area, will feature more than 900 Special Olympics athletes and Unified partners, individuals without intellectual disabilities, from across the state competing in athletics, basketball, bowling, gymnastics, powerlifting, swimming and volleyball.

For the first time since 2019, SONC's largest state-level competition returns, taking place at venues in Raleigh, Cary and Holly Springs. To kick off the weekend of competition, the 2022 SONC Summer Games Opening Ceremony will be held on Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Reynolds Coliseum on the North Carolina State University campus, featuring performances by Special Theatre Arts of Raleigh and the Smithfield-Selma High School drumline.

Sports competition will take place on Saturday and Sunday. The entire 2022 SONC Summer Games schedule is available online.

As Special Olympics athletes are not asked to pay for any of the cost associated with their participation, an event of this size requires a vast amount of resources, including the support of nearly 1,000 volunteers. Volunteer registration is still open for individual volunteers, groups of eight or more volunteers, individual sponsorships and corporate sponsorships.

Admission to all SONC Summer Games competition events is free and open to the public.

Official 2022 SONC sponsors include: Supreme Level: Law Enforcement Torch Run® for Special Olympics North Carolina; Championship Level: Sheetz, IDEAs that Work, Credit Suisse Americas Foundation, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Jersey Mike's Subs, NC Knights of Columbus and Publix; Gold Level: Civitan International and Dunkin' Donuts; Silver Level: BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, Duke Fuqua School of Business, United Way of the Greater Triangle, Prudential, Abound Health, A Caring Heart Case Management, Inc., AAA Carolinas, Golisano Foundation, DMJ, Metrographics, Lenovo, Bank of America, NFL Foundation, Wells Fargo, Erie Insurance and Vaya Health; Bronze Level: Digital Mettle, David and Nicole Tepper Foundation, State Employees Combined Campaign, Milestone Strategies, Finish Line, ESPN, Ellis & Winters LLP and Bayada Home Health Care; Honorary Delegation: Red Hat, Cisco, The Dale Jr. Foundation, Southland Dairy Farmers, Xerox and Citrix.