Special Olympics Yukon (SOY) unlocked the doors to their office on Monday and have set a return-to-play date for June 15.

Due to concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, SOY suspended all programs and events on March 13, followed by the announcement that the office would close its doors three days later.

Special Olympics Yukon CEO Serge Michaud said there is excitement throughout the organization about restarting programming.

"We were excited to get the office open yesterday (June 1) because it's fine and dandy to work from home but I really feel humans need that live conversation and communication," said Michaud.

"We are excited but you can imagine our athletes, how excited they are. They are pretty stoked that we are aiming to reopen our sports programs."

The SOY board of directors approved plans to resume operations given the recent ease of restrictions by the Yukon government in phase 1 and the guidance provided by the Yukon Health with regards to return to play.

Michaud said the plan is to slowly reopen. The first month is going to be general fitness to allow the athletes to "shake off the cobwebs and the ring rust."

"We are taking our time reopening," said Michaud. "We know they've been off for three months, yeah, we've had virtual content but our athletes haven't been super active.

"We thought instead of throwing them into bocce, golf and athletics and whatever other sports they want to do, we thought why not do a general fitness session."

Michaud said the sessions are exactly as they sound.

"It's let's get seven athletes together with three coaches to go for a light run along with some good stretching and core exercises for a month," he said. "In mid-July, based on the current pandemic and the orders of the day, we will slowly ease into our sports programming as well."

Even though the pandemic caused SOY to shut their doors, they still held virtual programs like #BreakUpTheBoredom but Michaud said it doesn't replace the social aspect of sport for the SOY athletes.

"It doesn't replace being on the field of play, being with your teammates even if you have to physically distance," said Michaud. "You're there with somebody and that's huge.

"That socialization piece is major for our athletes. Our athletes, to be blunt, have been stuck at home. If we can be a bit of that shining light for our athletes to get some exercise and hang out with their teammates that's huge. That's a great step for our athletes."

The resuming of operations is designed to follow the present-day Yukon government orders concerning the pandemic. Michaud said SOY is ready to remain fluid during these times.

"Everything we've said is that it is for today," said Michaud. "We've been putting on top of our acknowledgement forms on our new protocols, if you will, hand sanitizing and keeping social distancing, it's all in there, and athletes and coaches are signing off on that.

"That could change next week. Either the orders ease or they become more restrictive, hopefully not, those documents are live docs. They say effective May 28 and hopefully, by July 1 we can ease some of the protocols we have based on what the government says that day."

The priority is to keep the members of Special Olympics Yukon safe.

In other SOY news, on Monday the organization launched a virtual event called the "Be Active Yukon 30 day Challenge."

The challenge is a fun step-counting activity that encourages Yukoners to be physically active during these "interesting times." There are many fabulous prizes to be won. Information for the "Be Active Yukon 30 day Challenge" can be found on SOY's social media pages.