The Special Olympics and Nike announced a three-year global partnership, building on Nike’s support for the Oregon organization over the past two decades.
Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools (UCS) will facilitate the agreement in four communities: Oregon, WA; Berlin, Germany; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Tokyo. Nike employees will volunteer in all four communities as a key element of the partnership, beginning with employee volunteerism at Special Olympics Oregon and Special Olympics Berlin Summer Games this July.
“As a company founded by a coach and an athlete, we know that the role of a coach can be transformational, and we are thrilled to expand our long-time commitment to Special Olympics with this global partnership to highlight the role coaches have to positively shape the youth sport experience,” said Vanessa Garcia-Brito, VP and chief impact officer at Nike.
“Our global partnership with Nike will strengthen our sport for development initiatives by expanding our world-class coaching tools and increasing gender parity in our Unified Sports programs,“ said Mary Davis, CEO at Special Olympics International. “Utilizing our capabilities as a force for inclusive education, along with support from a fellow global sports leader in Nike, allows us to broaden the meaningful opportunities available to Special Olympics athletes and coaches.”
Over the three-year partnership, Nike and Special Olympics will collaborate on updating Special Olympics’ Global Unified Sports Coach courses and train-the-trainer materials, leveraging Nike’s expertise in youth sport coaching. The company will also work to recruit more “Unified Sports coaches to more closely reflect community demographics, with the ambition of training and certifying more than 600 additional volunteer coaches across the four key communities.” The two organizations also aim to “create more opportunities for young women and girls to access Unified Sports.”
David Evangelista, the newly-named incoming CEO of Special Olympics and current president and managing director of Special Olympics Europe Eurasia, said, “This partnership reflects our shared belief that everyone is an athlete, and has the potential to achieve their best, and to be brave. Together, we’re not only raising the bar for coaches’ education and making sports more inclusive for all, we’re showing the world that when we Play Unified, we change mindsets, we change communities, and in the deepest way, we can change lives, including our own.”
Image courtesy Special Olympics
