New Hanover County Events

   Below are the descriptions of our annual events. Please check out the description and go to the corresponding page to get more information and to register for that event on-line.

                                                    Magnolia Greens Golf Tournament to Benefit

                                         Special Olympics New Hanover County

                                               Tuesday, November 13, 2012
                                                     Registration begins at:   8:00 AM
                                                       Individuals $75, 4-somes $ 280

Click on the Golf Tournament tab to get more information.

Annual Polar Plunge

   The Special Olympics New Hanover County (SONHC) Polar Plunge dates back to 2005. SONHC
was looking for something fun and "extreme" to do in the middle of winter as well as have a single fund raiser to support our year around activities.  That first plunge, held at the Holiday INN Sun Spree Hotel in Wrightsville Beach, featured all of about 100 plungers and still raised almost $18,000.

  In comparison, last year, the 7th annual Polar Plunge was held at the Boardwalk in Carolina Beach where we raised more than $40,000 for Special Olympics New Hanover County and more than 300 chilled souls took the plunge. Because of this generous support, Special Olympics New Hanover County is able to provide year-round training and sports programs, three social events, the 4 week Camp Shriver free day camp, and 3 major local  sports tournaments for both children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
 

Camp Shriver

   More than 180 campers and 11 staff members completed a four 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 the Wilmington Fire Department for their weekly fire expo, and the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher for their weekly hands on demos. And last but not least, a thank you to Cardinal Lane Bowling Lanes for providing bowling time for our rainy day outings.

Fall Sports Expo

 Each fall, SONHC offers a half day sports expo to introduce more than 250 athletes of all ages to the different sports we offer in our local program. The morning session is dedicated to the schools in our area, and the afternoon session is for older athletes that are either live in group homes or are independent adults living on their own or at home. We try to offer demo and practice time for at least four different sports. For the 2010/2011 school year we offered a chance to play tennis, bocce, soccer and track events.

Please check the Calendar for this years Expo.

                                                             

Winter Basketball Tournament

   2011 was the kickoff year for our new local basketball tournament for athletes of all ages and abilities. For this first year we offered skills competition and 3 on 3 games at the Martin Luther King center. Over 180 athletes from middle and high schools as well as several group home helped make this a very successful day and we hope to grow this tournament in the coming years.. 
  
 

       Spring Games

  In April of each year, Special Olympics New Hanover County holds it's annual Athletics competition at the Harold Greene Track and Field Complex on the University of North Carolina, Wilmington campus. For the 2011 games we would like to thank UNCW for their support and the use of their first class track facility. SONHC would also like to thank Mr. Jon Evans of WECT-TV6 for emceeing our event, the New Hanover County Sheriff's and Wilmington Police Department's motorcycle patrol officers for leading our parade, over 300 volunteers from Wilmington Civitans, Knights of Columbus Wachovia, Vision Aire, Wilmington Police Department, UNCW students, Kohl’s Department Store and Chick-Fil-A for a great lunch. For 2012, there will be an on line application form to make it easier for everyone to get registered.