| Opening Windows of Understanding When people see the seriousness and sense of purpose evident in each Special Olympics athletic event, a window of understanding opens. In hundreds of competitions a year around the world, people everywhere get the chance to have their eyes opened and their perspectives widened. Special Olympics provides year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities (volunteer at your local Special Olympics program). Those activities give them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship. While sports is the focus of the movement, other opportunities to change attitudes emerge along the way. On 31 March, it was "Spread the Word to End the Word" day, the launch of a grass-roots effort driven by high school and college students in the United States to raise awareness of the impact of the thoughtless, hurtful use of the R word |
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The mission of Special Olympics is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for persons eight years of age and older with intellectual disabilities, who wish to participate, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes and the community. GOAL OF SPECIAL OLYMPICS The ultimate goal of Special Olympics is to help persons with intellectual disabilities participate as productive and respected members of society at large, by offering them a fair opportunity to develop and demonstrate their skills and talents through sports training and competition, and by increasing the public’s awareness of their capabilities and needs. COACHING SPORTSMANSHIP The greatest value of the sports environment is that it presents a tremendous opportunity for people to learn how to treat others. Coaches recognize this, yet they tend to spend the vast majority of their time focusing on technical, sport-specific skill development. Helping athletes become better shooters, hitters, and sprinters is undeniably one of the primary responsibilities of a coach. However, ensuring that athletes develop a strong sense of citizenship and community conduct should be the ultimate goal for every sports coach. Coaches can cultivate and enforce the highest virtues of the spirit of competition, fairness, and cooperation in the same way that they teach form, technique, and strategy. We must actively teach sportsmanship as a skill. Tips to actively teach sportsmanship as a skill include: Define it. Be clear and specific about what sportsmanship means. Have conversations with athletes about honoring the game/sport through an uncompromising respect for rules, opponents, officials, teammates, and tradition. Practice it. Help athletes develop good sportsmanship habits through drill work. Design creative exercisesa “knock down/pick up” drill, for exampleduring which athletes practice appropriate conduct in preparation for situations that call for acts of sportsmanship. Model it. Provide visible examples for athletes to emulate. Be aware that coaches’ interactions with opposing coaches and officials before, during, and after the game speak volumes about how they value sportsmanship. Discuss it. Athletes need to hear coaches talk consistently and routinely about the importance of sportsmanship. Coaches can cite examples of sportsmanship, both good and bad, that they have observed with athletes, opponents, and high-visibility examples from the professional and college sports environments. Reinforce it. During practices and competition, immediately acknowledge good sportsmanship and take action against poor sportsmanship. Overlooking poor sportsmanship in the heat of the moment sends a message that being a good citizen is nice, but not as important as winning. |
