Unified Sports/EKS Day

Special Olympics New Jersey (SONJ) invites you to our annual event celebrating the life of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, where you can watch a variety of unified sporting events such as basketball, volleyball or soccer - or even get on the courts with some of our athletes and play bocce.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day (EKS Day) is taking place this Saturday, September 22 from 9 a.m. to noon at the SONJ Sports Complex located at 3 Princess Road in Lawrenceville.

Unified Sports® joins people with and without intellectual disabilities together on the same team. Each team is made up of people of similar age and ability, which makes practices more fun and games more challenging and exciting for all. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. Having sport in common is just one more way that preconceptions and false ideas are swept away.

As the founder of Special Olympics, Eunice Kennedy Shriver (1921-2009) was a leader in the worldwide struggle to improve and enhance the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities for more than three decades.

EKS Day is an annual celebration of her life and a global call for people to commit actions of inclusion, acceptance and unity for and with individuals with intellectual disabilities. EKS Day activities focus on sport, because Eunice Kennedy Shriver believed that on the playing field we forget about our differences and forge bonds that recognize our mutual humanity.

By having fun together in a variety of sports, Special Olympics athletes and their partners improve their physical fitness, sharpen their skills, challenge the competition and help to overcome prejudices about intellectual disability.

Watch a video here about EKS Day: http://youtu.be/gqzzp4t_hTA

For more information about the local EKS Day celebration, visithttp://www.sonj.org/General/SpecialEvent/EKSDay or call 609-896-8000.