Our Sports Programme

Special Olympics Great Britain is constantly collaborating and co-operating with other charities, as well as working in partnership with Disability Sports Organisations and National Governing Bodies in order to provide sporting opportunities for people with a learning disability. Special Olympics Great Britain is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.

Corresponding to the old UK Sports Council regional boundaries, there are currently nineteen regions within the Special Olympics GB structure; ten in England, eight in Scotland and one region of Wales. Availability of sports depends on whether or not coaches or facilities are available to athletes in any particular geographic region. Therefore, some Special Olympics regions in the UK might be stronger in one sport and not so strong in another.

Special Olympics seeks to provide the highest possible quality of coaching and competition for its athletes. Athletes are able to choose which sports they would like to participate in from a range of more than 20 Summer and Winter Sports.

Special Olympics Official Sports

 

Special Olympics also has the Motor Activities Training Programme (MATP) for people with profound or multiple learning disabilities.

To find out more about the sports offered by Special Olympics please visit the SOI website

In 2008 Special Olympics in GB launched its Unified Football Development Project.

Unified Football is the same as any other 7-a-side football you find, except that half the team is made up of people with a learning disability (Athletes), and the other half is made up of people without a learning disability (Unified Partners). 

The main aim is to integrate players with a learning disability into a Unified team. This allows social interaction, and also promotes full inclusion. The project hopes to raise the awareness of learning disability, whilst challenging views that people may have on what a learning disability is or is not!