Training Personnel and Procedures for Special Olympics Athletes

Abstract

The concept, sports training, as it is applied to Special Olympics, was studied. Questionnaires were mailed to 194 Special Olympics coaches in Ohio, resulting in a return rate of 88%. The intent of the survey instrument was to establish a data base about the persons who coach Special Olympics. Results showed the profile of a Special Olympics coach to be a female physical educator, age 26-35, with a B.S. degree. Training began 8.4 weeks prior to events and 3.6 hours per week were spent in training. While a high percentage of coaches had experience and training in coaching, 70% of the coaches did not feel qualified to train athletes with mental retardation for Special Olympics competition. It is recommended that coaches avail themselves of coaching clinics, university coursework in adapted physical education, and the expertise of other professional colleagues.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Colgate

J. A.

(1978). Administration of intramurals and recreational activities: Everyone can participate. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Keller

I. A.

(1982). The interscholastic coach. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Mueller

(1971). Intramurals: Programming and administration (4th ed.). New York: The Ronald Press.

Orelove

F. P.

, Wehman

, & Wood

(1982). An evaluation review of Special Olympics: Implications for community integration. Education and Training of the Mentally Retarded, 17, 325–329.

Ray

A. A.

(Ed.). (1982). Statistical analysis systems users guide: Basic. Cary, NY: SAS Institute.

Sherrill

(1986). Adapted physical education and recreation (3rd ed.). Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown.

Specht

F. A.

(1986). Reliability. In SPSSX user's guide (pp. 857–872). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Special Olympics. (1982). Facts on Special Olympics. Washington, D.C.: Author.

Special Olympics. (1985). Official Special Olympics sports rules. Washington, D.C.: Author.

10.

Winnick

J. P.

(1979). Physical development for Special Olympic sports. In Winnick

J. P.

(Ed.), Train-a-champ: Proceedings of a series of workshops on the development of sport skills of Special Olympic participants (pp. 9–17). Brockport, NY: State University College.