The Coaches Corner​

Athlete Centered Coaching Guide

Special Olympics Sports Essentials

Coaching Special Olympics Athletes Guides

The Role of the Coach

Special Olympics Coach Webinar Series

Special Olympics Sport Psychology for Coaches

Warm Up and Cool Down

Sport Plan – Free online resource with access to hundreds of existing practice plans and templates.

Basketball Coaching Quick Start Guide

Special Olympics Comprehensive Coaching Basketball Guide

Teaching Basketball Skills Short Guide

Creating a Practice Plan

Basketball Glossary

Example Practice Plan

Videos

Jump Stop

Stationary Dribbling

In-motion Dribbling

Passing

Pivot Drills

Jump Stop, Pivot and Pass Drills

Form Shooting

Lay up Drills

Advanced: 5 v 0 Pass and Cut Offense Drill

Advanced: Cross Overs

Special Olympics Cheer Coach’s Corner Meeting Recording

Videos

Basic Cheerleading Motions

Basics of Cheerleading Jumps

How to Learn a Cheerleading Dance

Fitness for Sports Coach (Free) — Teaches sports coaches the very basics of fitness and how to easily integrate principles of fitness within their practice as seamlessly as possible. Also points coaches to resources they can use for fitness.

Fitness Coach (Free) — This is a new volunteer role for fitness professionals or others that have a strong background in fitness and want to really amplify fitness as part of the sports experience either with a team or local program. It goes beyond the information in the Sport coach and talks about what they might do in their role. We see this role as something that can help coaches that feel they don’t have the knowledge or time to focus on the fitness elements of practice.

Inclusive Fitness (Free) — This module is for fitness professionals who want to learn more about how to work with people with intellectual disabilities in their own fitness setting. We have partnered with American Council on Exercise (ACE), a well-known fitness certifying body, to create videos that showcase communication, teaching, and motivation strategies as well as specific exercise prescription considerations. We hope this opens up more inclusive fitness opportunities for our athletes within their community.

All three of these online courses are available in the Special Olympics Online Learning Portal Accessible Here.

Special Olympics Online Learning Portal – A growing number of Special Olympics coaching courses are available for free at the relatively new SO online Learning Portal.

Coaching Special Olympics Athletes (Small Fee) – Every contact you have with your athletes is a chance to help them build character, grow personally, and improve their sport skills. When you master the content of the Coaching Special Olympics Athletes online course, you’ll be equipped to do just that. Through this three-hour course, you will develop a better understanding of how people with intellectual disabilities learn and how they participate in sports. The course offers a solid overview of the coaching principles involved in working with Special Olympics athletes as well as practical ideas that you can immediately use in your teaching and coaching. 

Coaching Unified Sports (Free) – Unified Sports is an inclusive sports program that unites Special Olympics athletes (individuals with intellectual disabilities) and partners (individuals without intellectual disabilities) as teammates for training and competition. This course will help you understand and implement Special Olympics Unified Sports in your school. This course is also great for coaches and LPCs working with community Unified Sports programs.

Heat Illness Prevention (Free) – A free course offered through NFHS. A great resource for coaches of sports that take place outdoors.