Coaching special Olympics: A scoping review

Abstract

Background Special Olympics enables individuals with an intellectual disability across all continents to take part in sport year-round. Through its mission, Special Olympics provides a setting for athletes that aims to foster performance, participation, and personal development. Coaches play a central role in achieving these outcomes. As such, this scoping review aims to answer the following question: What is known about Special Olympics’ coach training and practices? Method Our scoping review was conducted according to Peters et al.'s (2020) guidelines. Keywords pertaining to Special Olympics, Program evaluation, and Coaches were searched in six databases to extract articles published between 1988 and October 1, 2021. Results In all, 16 studies were included in our scoping review. Of these studies, nine included information on coach training and 13 included information on coach practices. No randomized control trials were identified. Conclusions There is currently very little knowledge on Special Olympics coach training and practices. Moreover, there is no existing data to support the effectiveness of Special Olympics coaches formal training on coaches’ practices nor on athletes’ outcomes. There is an urgent need for research in this field.