Special Olympics New Hanover County
 Completes 3 Week Camp Shriver 

More than 130 campers and 11 staff members completed a three week Camp Shriver Sports Camp in Wilmington, NC. A big round of applause and thank you to Williston Middle School for the use of their facilities and the City of Wilmington for the use of the Robert Strange  swimming pool. Special Olympics New Hanover County would also like to thank Port City Gymnastics for providing a hour each week with demonstrations and coaching of gymnastic skills. And last but not least, a thank you to Cardinal Lane Bowling Lanes for providing bowling time for our more senior athletes. Pictures of the camp will soon be available in the photo gallery.

Below is a description of what Camp Shriver is and what we strive to provide our athletes and campers. If you have question or need more information, please go to the Contact Us page and contact Jonathan.

                                  What is Camp Shriver?
 
      Eunice Kennedy Shriver Global Sports Camp (Camp Shriver)

Camp Shriver is a place for people with intellectual disabilities to learn new sports skills and improve individual sport performance, participate in individual and team sports, build friendships, and have fun with partners who have signed on and trained as Camp Shriver volunteers.

 From the start of Camp Shriver in 1962, Eunice Kennedy Shriver has been a hands-on leader. The Camp is social as well as athletic, and campers will come from public and private schools, volunteer agencies and the local community. The key focus of Camp Shriver is to build and develop, throughout the Camp, lasting positive relationships between and among staff, campers and volunteers. A critical objective is to inspire all Camp participants to continue and build on their Camp experience. For the volunteers, to keep in contact with their special partners, openly include people with intellectual disabilities in their daily lives and encourage colleagues, friends and family to join the Special Olympics movement and volunteer. For the athletes, to sign up and participate in year-round Special Olympics activities and continue to improve their individual performance, and recruit their friends to get involved.

                                             Camp Shriver Goals

The goals of Camp Shriver are to 1) recruit new athletes and volunteers, especially from hard-to-reach urban areas, into the Special Olympics family; 2) create opportunities for these athletes and volunteers, in an atmosphere of understanding, learning and sharing, so that new friendships between athletes and their partners (volunteers) are created and continue to thrive through participation in Unified Sports® in the coming year; 3) provide new sports and other opportunities for all participants as well as strengthen existing sports camp experiences for people with intellectual disabilities; 4) focus on and enhance the quality of individual and team sports training with measurable outcomes for campers and volunteers; and 5) rekindle the energy that helped form the basis for Special Olympics and develop the Camp Shriver program in communities throughout the United States and around the world.

                              Camp Shriver and Special Olympics

Camp Shriver furthers the mission, vision and spirit of Special Olympics and fully supports the strategic goals and objectives of the movement. As presented in the information above, Camp Shriver will connect with a new generation of athletes, coaches, families, young volunteers, supportive organizations and sponsors. The Camp will enhance the quality of Special Olympics sports and sports training while improving the individual performance of the athletes involved. Camp Shriver will also initiate and build on lasting friendships between and among campers and volunteers.