Coaching the Special Olympics
The Special Olympics is all about coaching excellence. The first and most important fact when coaching the Special Olympics is to know that all the athletes are individuals. When you are coaching them, do not to look at them any differently, but as another community or youth sports team. The skills required for a successful coach are the same skills required when you are coaching the National Olympics, University or High School teams, youth teams, community sports or the Special Olympics. It is recognizable that there are certain situations that do make Special Olympics unique and also very enjoyable.
This provides tools that will recognize coaching opportunities and situations that will prove unique to Special Olympics environment. There are many programs available in the Special Olympics that offer coaches occasional workshops concerning this subject.
What must one know concerning the athlete and his/her intellectual disability?
Mental Retardation simply means that a person mentally retarded will learn something more slowly than other people the same age. Intellectual disability means that the person is being accepted internationally as a change to the more clinical term “mental retardation”. In the Special Olympics, both terms will be heard, but the important thing is no one wants to be labeled, especially the athletes participating in the event.
There should be no other expectation or description when it comes to learning slower. You can be assured the athletes of the Special Olympics are identified as slow learners, but beyond that, these athletes are equal to everyone else. Their challenges, abilities, talents and interests are unique.
What psychological, social, mental considerations should a coach be aware of?
When an athlete participates in the Special Olympics, a medical form is completed. On this form, it will state any medications and restrictions that could affect the athlete’s performance. Apart from that, these athletes are our mirrors.
The only advice to any coach looking forward to coaching for the Special Olympic is: look far beyond any disability and see the real person before you. Now trust what you know concerning the social and psychological situations. If you sense something in an athlete, that maybe he/she feels left out, the chances are that maybe you are right. Ask how things are and if he/she is having fun.
An important note is that if social or psychological disabilities were diagnosed, it should say so on the medical form. You have to make sure that you view those forms before the first sporting event.
What You Can Expect From Athletes in the Special Olympics
Motivation! We can learn faster if we choose. It is extremely important that you help athletes, and this goes for any athlete and not just those in Special Olympics. Pay attention to the amount of fun they are having once they pick up what you are trying to teach. Factors that could affect their motivation are the reasons athletes have for showing up for practice. Did they ask to participate? Were they signed up by a parent or guardian? Are they comfortable with a sport that they know? How is this experience for them? It may be very helpful to answer these questions, but as a coach, you will always have the same task: it doesn’t matter what motivated them to attend the first practice, but make their reason for showing up for the next practice the same success that overcame them when they attended the first one.