Health & Wellness Schedule
Timeline
Healthy Athletes
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Date: Saturday, February 22nd
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Time: 4:15pm – 8:45pm
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Location: Rochester Riverside Convention Center (123 East Main Street Rochester, NY 14604)
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Volunteer Opportunity Details –
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Special Olympics New York is a sports organization, but also has a strong focus on the health and wellness of our athletes. At most large sports competitions, we offer our Healthy Athletes free health screenings to any athletes that would like to go through them. There is a great disparity in the quality of healthcare that people with intellectual disabilities receive as compared to the general population, and we aim to close this gap and provide necessary baseline checks for our athletes in multiple health disciplines. We also utilize these screenings to train current and future healthcare professionals about working with people with ID, so they can take their increased knowledge of and compassion for people with intellectual disabilities into their current or future practice. These screenings require volunteers that are either students or licensed professionals in their health discipline. There are additional opportunities for general volunteers that assist with the setup, check-in and activity flow of the screenings.
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Volunteers will assist with duties such as athlete registration, station setup/breakdown and working with the Clinical Director to screen athletes in the core components of each discipline, record findings and distribute information.
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Volunteers needed for the following disciplines: FUNFitness (physical therapy), Health Promotion (general health & wellness), Opening Eyes (vision screening), Special Smiles (dentistry), and Strong Minds (emotional health)
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Reach out to health@nyso.org if you are interested in volunteering!
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Performance Stations
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Date: Saturday, February 22nd
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Time: 10am – 2pm
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Location: Nazareth University Golisano Training Center
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Volunteer Opportunity Details –
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Volunteers will assist with duties such as station setup/breakdown and work with the Station Captain to engage and educate athletes on their assigned fitness station topic. Performance Stations are designed to educate athletes and their supporters in fitness: nutrition, hydration and physical activity. These stations directly connect fitness to sport performance, and show how incorporating these can enhance training, performance at competition, and health. Station focuses include: Competition Readiness, Game Day Minds, Nutrition, Hydration, Physical Activity, The Pledge Wall, and Giveaways
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Volunteers can be undergraduate/graduate students in any health/fitness related discipline or health/fitness professionals
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Reach out to health@nyso.org if you are interested in volunteering!
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Learn more about each offering:
Performance Stations are designed to educate athletes and their supporters in fitness: nutrition, hydration and physical activity. These stations directly connect fitness to sport performance, and show how incorporating these can enhance training, performance at competition, and health. There are a few different station focuses: Competition Readiness, Game Day Minds, Nutrition, Hydration, Physical Activity, The Pledge Wall, and Local Opportunities/Giveaways
Screenings will include flexibility of hamstring, calf, shoulder rotator and hip flexor muscles; functional strength of the abdominal and lower extremity muscles; and balance.
Screenings will include taking blood pressure and body mass index (BMI). The goal of this screening is to encourage and enhance healthy behaviors and improve self-efficacy and self-advocacy.
Screenings will include instructions on correct brushing and flossing techniques.
Screening will allow athletes to identify strategies that work best for them and volunteers provide them with visual reminders to use these tools in competition and in daily living.
Opening Eyes® helps improve the quality of life for Special Olympics athletes by optimizing their vision, eye health and visual skills through quality eye care.
In addition to screenings for athletes, the Opening Eyes discipline works on educating athletes, parents and coaches about the importance of regular eye care. Special Olympics athletes who participate in an Opening Eyes screening may be fitted for new eyeglasses or sports goggles at no cost to the athlete.