Special Olympics: Athletes' perspectives, choices and motives

Abstract

Accessible summary There is a need for more voiced opinions from Special Olympic (SO) athletes in contemporary literature. Five SO athletes presented their own views on their experiences of participating in sport. SO athletes would welcome more autonomy, responsibility and roles in their everyday sporting participation. Implications for coaches and parents are presented as a consequence of sporting involvement. Abstract BackgroundIn the past, academic literature and research relating to the Special Olympics (SO) have focused mainly on the parents', professionals' and coaches' views, with some concentrating on the effects of SO on athletes' quality of life. Relatively little has concentrated on the athlete's own perspectives. Therefore, this study set out to examine the under‐researched area of SO athletes' opinions of taking part in sporting activities and their satisfaction during training and competition. Materials and MethodsFive athletes from one SO athletic club agreed to take part in the study. Thematic analysis was used for generating themes in relation to participants' responses. ResultsFour themes were identified: (a) platform for voice; (b) intense emotions; (c) social reasons to participate; and (d) nutrition, health and sport. ConclusionsSO athletes' views suggest the need for changes in practice during training and competition. Recommendations are made with the view to further support SO athletes' needs.

Coaching special Olympics: A scoping review

“…44–46,58 Other studies found that coaches implemented practices that encouraged life skills development. 57–59 However, some athletes interviewed in Dluzwwaska-Martyniez's 56 study stated that some Special Olympics coaches, although not intentionally, adopt behaviors that block their thletes' autonomy and decision-making; thus, limiting their life skills and personal development opportunities. Coaches in other studies reported observing positive changes in their athletes pertaining to different life skills (e.g., social skills, team work) and psychological outcomes (e.g., self-confidence).…”

“…44,45 It is important to note that the majority of the studies only used self-reported measures to assess coaches’ behaviors and intentions of teaching their athletes life skills. 44–46,57,58 Only one study measured coaches’ use of instructional behaviors with observational measures (i.e., Sherlock-Shangraw 59 ). Within this study, coaches had extensive coaching experience which could have positively influenced coaches’ practices regarding life skills teaching.…”

Relação da formação formal na liderança dos treinadores e na autodeterminação e bem-estar dos atletas com deficiência intelectual (Relationship of formal training on coaches’ leadership and self-determination and well-being of athletes with intellectual disabilities) (Relación de la formación reglada con el liderazgo y la autodeterminación de los entrenadores y el bienestar de los deportistas con discapacidad intelectual)

“…Na autodeterminação (continnum motivacional) os atletas com DI presentes no estudo, apresentam valores de motivação autónoma mais elevada comparativamente aos restantes. O desporto constitui-se como uma atividade positiva para atletas com DI (Haigh et al, 2013), dado que para este tipo de desportista é necessário desenvolver condutas autodeterminadas, com o intuito de se efetuar um transfer destas competências para o quotidiano, com vista à melhoria de qualidade de vida (Everett et al,2019;Hernández et al2021., Martins et al,2022. Na investigação realizada por Moltó e Bruna (2017), os desportistas com DI também demonstram maior relevância na motivação autónoma.…”

“…Assim o desporto tem um efeito transformador na vida dos atletas dos Special Olympics (Everett et al, 2019). Deste modo torna-se necessário, aumentar a produção científica que examine a relação entre a teoria da autodeterminação, necessidades psicológicas básicas e bem-estar subjetivo (Frielink et al, 2018), cuja associação é um bom indicador de qualidade de vida dos atletas com deficiência intelectual (Frielink et al, 2018).…”

“…Salienta-se que é fundamental incluir atletas com deficiência, em estudos na área do desporto adaptado, pois muitas vezes são excluídos dos procedimentos investigativos (Everett et al, 2019;Hernández et al, 2021;Martins et al, 2022). Os autores anteriormente mencionados, sugerem que a utilização de teorias motivacionais é uma ótima forma de dar voz aos atletas com DI, e assim fornecer um ponto de partida para melhorar a formação e o desenvolvimento do desporto adaptado.…”