The Coaches Corner
COACHING RESOURCES & UPDATES
Special Olympics Kansas is dedicated to providing coaches with quality trainings and information that will allow them to become successful Special Olympics coaches. We believe the key to improving athletic performance and maintaining the well-being of our athletes is to have trained coaches. The Better the Coach…The Better the Experiences…The Better the Athlete. With this in mind we have created the Special Olympics Kansas Coaches’ Training System which defines minimum criteria that coaches should meet. It also lays the foundation to create a continuing education program for our coaches.
If you are not already a coach and are interested in joining a team as a volunteer coach, please start here.
COACHING RESOURCES
Athlete Centered Coaching Guide
Special Olympics Sports Essentials
Coaching Special Olympics Athletes Guides
Special Olympics Coach Webinar Series
Special Olympics Sport Psychology for Coaches
Training Site Safety Checklist
Strategies for Different Athlete Characteristics
Basketball Coaching Quick Start Guide
Special Olympics Comprehensive Coaching Basketball Guide
Teaching Basketball Skills Short Guide
Videos
Jump Stop, Pivot and Pass Drills
Advanced: 5 v 0 Pass and Cut Offense Drill
10 Best Basketball Drills For Beginners
10 Best Passing Drills For Beginners
Best Basketball Drills for Younger Players
6 Best Dribbling Drills For Younger Players
10 Best Softball Drills for Kids
10 Best Softball Drills for Beginners
5 Freestyle Drills for Beginners
3 Swimming Workouts for Beginners
30 Tennis Drills For Beginners
Easy Tennis Drills for Beginners
Forehand, Backhand, and Serving
More Forehand and Backhand Serves
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.
Sport Plan – Free online resource with access to hundreds of existing practice plans and templates.
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.
upcoming sports competitions
coaches general Resources & policies
Athlete Participation, Eligibility, Code of Conduct, Disciplinary and Criminal History Policies
