JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO–FORT SAM HOUSTON, Texas — Leaders with the Mission and Installation Contracting Command kicked off the 2026 Golden Sneaker Strong Teams Challenge March 18 at MICC headquarters, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, encouraging Soldiers and Civilian employees to build healthier habits while strengthening readiness and teamwork across the command.
MICC Command Sgt. Maj. JennyAnne Bright and Deputy to the Commanding General Clay Cole welcomed two dozen local MICC participants during the event, encouraging the workforce to take part in the second-annual command wide walking challenge while highlighting the importance of building resilient and strong teams. They made remarks on behalf of the MICC Commanding General, Brig. Gen. Freddy Adams, who was traveling on official business.
The 2026 Golden Sneaker Strong Teams Challenge officially began March 16 and runs through June 14, the Army’s birthday. Bright reminded attendees of the purpose of the annual challenge.
“Brig. Gen. Adams, Mr. Cole and I want to thank you for taking the time to join us in making MICC wellness, resilience, readiness a priority,” Bright said. “There is no better way to honor the Army’s birthday then to highlight what strong teams can accomplish together.”
The 2026 challenge builds on the success of last year’s Golden Sneaker walking challenging while highlighting the concept of “Strong Teams,” emphasizing teamwork and mutual encouragement as participants work toward shared fitness goals.
“This challenge is about more than counting steps,” Bright said. “It’s about building strong teams, encouraging healthy lifestyles and supporting each other as we stay active together, ensuring MICC readiness.”
As of the start of kickoff event, 68 teams and more than 360 participants had registered — surpassing the number of teams and participants who took part in the 2025 challenge.
This year the command challenged five-person teams to walk a cumulative 251,000 steps per week. While the goal may sound ambitious, it averages to around 7,000 steps per day for each person within a seven-day week.
Cole said initiatives like the Golden Sneaker challenge help highlight the importance of wellness and connection across the MICC enterprise.
“Events like this bring people together and reinforce the importance of taking care of ourselves and each other,” Cole said. “When our workforce is healthy and cohesive, we are better prepared to support the Army mission.”
The leaders also encouraged individual participants and smaller teams to join the challenge, setting a per person goal of at least 10,000 steps per day.
“We just have to get moving and encourage our teammates to do the same,” Cole said. “Take a quick break, walk a few laps around the building and bring a buddy with you. You’ll come back refreshed, energized and better prepared to take on the challenges of the day.”
Following the command team’s remarks, participants gathered for a group photo before joining Bright and Cole for a short walk around the headquarters building in symbolic commitment to increase daily physical activity as the nearly 13-week challenge begins.
Besides increasing wellness, the MICC will award the Golden Sneaker Trophy to the top individual and the top team. The top unit with the most cumulative steps at the end of challenge also earns a certificate of achievement. Bright also said the Golden Sneaker Strong Teams Challenge is designed to increase readiness, endurance and resiliency while reminding participants that wellness activities can be enjoyable when done as a team.
“Friendly competition across the MICC enterprise and camaraderie can take strong teams a long way,” Bright said. “When we stay active, push out of our comfort zones and support each other, it strengthens our teams, helps improve our resiliency, and ultimately enhances our readiness an capability to deliver innovative and timely contracting solutions for our mission partners.”
MICC participants are reminded to log their steps daily or weekly to count towards the contest through MICC SharePoint. At the time that this story was published—after only three days of competition— MICC teams logged over 1.9 million collective steps.
About the MICC Headquartered atJoint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, Texas, the Mission and Installation Contracting Command consists of about 1,500 military and civilian members who are responsible for contracting goods and services in support of Soldiers as well as readying trained contracting units for the operating force and contingency environment when called upon. A subordinate command of the Army Contracting Command and the Army Materiel Command, MICC contracts are vital in feeding more than 200,000 Soldiers every day, providing many daily base operations support services at installations, facilitate training in the preparation of more than 100,000 conventional force members annually, training more than 500,000 students each year, and maintaining more than 14.4 million acres of land and 170,000 structures.