|
Special Olympics is a year round program offering Olympic type sports to children and adults with intellectual disabilities. Through Special Olympics people with intellectual disabilities enjoy the opportunity to be treated as people, not just as disabled. Through sports our athletes gain self confidence, social competency, and other enhanced skills, both social and physical. |
| Step by Step |
|
|
Step 1 Get Trained as a Special Olympics Coach Select your sport and contact Barbara Oswald at the state office – 800-765-7276 x 31 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it As Sports Manager, Barbara offers sports trainings 3 times a year. Nearly 30 coaches will gather at a central location and receive sports specific training. If you are brand new, you’ll need to sign up for General Session. This is Special Olympics 101 and Protective Behaviors – both are required for you to become a certified coach. You’ll also fill out a Class A Volunteer Application if you haven’t done this already. You’ll get to know Barbara who will be willing to travel to a practice if you need her help. Once you have completed your class work, you’ll need to accrue 10 hours working with athletes in your sport to become a certified coach. Step 2Get Your Group Together You may already have a classroom of athletes ready to jump into a sport. You may just have the idea and need to recruit a team/group. Contact your Area Director and see if she has a group that needs you. If you need to start from scratch, special education classes and your county Department of Disabilities and Special Needs are great resources. Don’t forget that your Area Director will be the greatest resource for anything you’ll ever need of need to know!! Memorize her/his phone number and email address! Step 3Medicals Don’t even think of having your first practice until you have everyone complete a medical. A medical form has two parts. One is a basic physical that is completed by the parent or guardian and signed by a doctor or a licensed practitioner. The flip side has a permission form to participate and must be signed by a parent/guardian or an adult participating athlete. Make a copy of the medical. Keep one copy in your file drawer and the other with you at all practices and events. Step 48 Weeks of Practice Special Olympics emphasize training as well as competitions for athletes. To compete in a State Event, athletes must complete 8 weeks of practice. Use the SO Guidebooks for your sport. They are great resources of lesson plans. Don’t forget to cover important topics like proper nutrition and protective behaviors. You may want to give a homework assignment of ‘take a 10 min walk every evening at home’ to increase stamina in some of your athletes. Be sure to let athletes know that they should report any situations that make them uncomfortable. Be sure they have several people to report to so they feel comfortable with whom they make the report. Step 5Register all coaches/chaperones Make sure that your entire group is registered. All adults that are serving as coaches or chaperones should have a Class A Volunteer form completed. You can get these through Edwena Lassiter at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or 800-765-7276 x 30. All coaches should receive a volunteer handbook, also available through Edwena. Step 6Program Registration You should register your program. As a team, you are considered a program. As you can see on the attached form, you simple let the state office know that you are part of the SOSC Family. Step 7Make a Request to Attend State Games Area Directors turn on State Games Registrations a month prior to Games. YO need to let your Area Director know about 6 – 8 weeks before Games that you would like to attend. This is subject to change, but here is the traditional time and sports at the three State Games:
Equestrian will be offered in a separate event and Team Basketball will be a separate tournament. Alpine Skiing is offered in Boone, NC as a SE Region event. Step 9Preliminary competition Now you need for your group to have a preliminary competition. Sounds hard, but it’s not. Competition sanction form Make a quota request Registration/Housing Coaches Book Registration at Games Responsibilities |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
