Special Olympics Lancaster County

Founded in 1983, Special Olympics of Lancaster County is a year-round sports training and competition program for individuals from ages 6 and up with intellectual disabilities. Lancaster County offers 15 different Olympic-type sports at no cost to the athletes or their families. Special Olympics sports have specially adapted rules sanctioned by the international Sports Federation of each to make them competitive for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The mission of Special Olympics PA is to provide year-round sports training and competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.

Hi my name is Chloe Phillips and for many years I have been participating as a swimmer and powerlifter in Special Olympics Lancaster County. I am pleased to share my story for this years’s ExtraOrdinary Give Event. I’ve learned that in order to perform at my very best, I had to maintain a healthy lifestyle by actively exercising and eating healthy, even during a time when I’m not active in a sport. In 2017, I took training at Athlete Leadership University called Healthy Lifestyles, where I not only learned how to improve my own health and fitness habits, but also how to become a Health and Fitness Coordinator and share that information with my fellow athletes. I also enjoy helping my swim team with Fit 5! My coach and I talked to the athletes and parents about exercise, hydration and nutrition. I was responsible for collecting and handing out the tracking sheets. When I’m not competing, I enjoy going to events to volunteer with Healthy Athletes and Healthy Habits. Most recently, I went to the York Expo Center to help with Healthy Athletes out at the Indoor Winter Games. I helped in the registration of athletes for getting their ears checked through Healthy Hearing checked and teeth checked through Special Smiles. It was a long day but I know I helped many athletes. I saw many of my friends from other counties and it felt great encouraging them to take advantage of the free health screenings offered by Special Olympics.

Check out two photos from our recent competition day at Sectionals where our athletes competed in Long Distance Walking (1500, 3000 and 5000K races), powerlifting (deadlift, bench and squat), bocce (doubles teams) and volleyball (2 teams):