Peris Bennett’s Health Messenger Profile

Hello! My name is Peris Bennett, and I am a SOMD Health Messenger and Athlete who participates in soccer, snow shoeing, track and field, kayaking, flag football and tennis. I also play rec sports at Towson University to help me stay in shape and to compete with and against new friends. My health journey really began a few years ago when I became an athlete.

After covid, I really wanted to start taking control over my own health and I started creating a fitness plan for myself. I wanted to focus on endurance, building muscle, and eating healthier foods. I started working with a personal trainer who helped me work towards meeting my goals and helped me talk through nutritious foods I should eat/ foods I maybe shouldn’t eat. I started going on walks outside of sports practice and I started cooking my own foods.

I have learned a lot of new skills from coaches and teammates who have helped me over the years. I have learned a lot about sportsmanship, how to handle my feelings both on and off the field, and how to talk to teammates when times get tough.

– Peris Bennett

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Food & Nutrition

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Exercise

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Strong Minds

When interviewed about what Peris wanted to do as a Health Messenger these are his answers:

• What is a specific inclusive health problem you want to solve.
  • Build up strong muscle and better heart health and work on my eating habits
• What goal do you want to achieve?
  • I want to win a lot of medals and train myself to work on some new skills
• Who in your local community, state, province, region, or country can help you achieve your goal?
  • My former teammates and teachers I used to play with back in high school
• What can that person can do?
  • By telling others that Special Olympics is a good organization to join and how to get involved
• What do you want them to know?
  • That I am a competitive athlete that and try my best during competition and by leading exercises before practice