Super Decathlon for One America

The Super Decathlon for One America was founded in 2017 to connect rural and urban communities through fun, friendly team competition and joint projects. We believe that relationships built through shared experiences can contribute to greater respect between rural and urban communities and a greater willingness to listen to and understand others’ needs, interests, and priorities.

• Super Decathlons are day-long events that feature four-person teams (two from DC, two from a nearby rural community in PA, VA, or WV) competing in fun events such as kickball, dodgeball, blindfolded dessert tasting, trivia, eight-station relay race, etc.
• Joint projects are initiatives implemented by a four-person rural-urban team to achieve an economic, ecological, or social goal.

HISTORY OF THE SUPER DECATHLON: On November 4, 2017, we partnered with The Haven shelter to organize the first-ever rural-urban Super Decathlon to bring together the communities of DC and Warsaw, VA (population: 1,485) through fun, friendly team competition. The Super Decathlon featured 26 participants from DC and the Northern Neck and benefited from participation by the Warsaw Richmond County Chamber of Commerce, University of Mary Washington Small Business Development Center, businesses in Warsaw, and more than a dozen corporate sponsors from DC and the Northern Neck.

The next Northern Neck Super Decathlon will be held in Warsaw, VA on September 22, 2018. The Super Decathlon and the Haven shelter are also collaborating to implement a rural-urban project to implement programming for shelter youth. The project will involve a weekend sports day for shelter youth in Warsaw and a weekend trip from Warsaw to DC for a sports event and day of exploration.

The Super Decathlon for One America is currently partnering with New Hope Shelter to organize a DC-Waynesboro Super Decathlon in Waynesboro, PA on August 11. We are also implementing a rural-urban “Appalachia Trail Clean-up and Exploration” project, which we will launch at this summer’s Super Decathlon. Finally, we are teaming up with Better Angels to organize a red-blue workshop in Waynesboro on August 12.