Sports Programs and Initiatives

Sports and Training:

Special Olympics Massachusetts offers competitions and training in 28 core sports.

Unified Sports^®

Unified Sports^® is an initiative that combines approximately equal numbers of Special Olympics athletes and athletes without intellectual disabilities (called Partners) on sports teams for training and competition. Age and ability matching of athletes and Partners is defined on a sport-by-sport basis. Unified Sports athletes improve their physical fitness, sharpen their skills, challenge the competition and have fun, too.

Special Olympics Massachusetts is a pioneer in the Unified Sports movement. Recently SOMA has taken steps to enhance the Unified Sports experience for our athletes by adding a new Unified Sports level, Unified Mentoring. To learn about the differences between Unified Sports and Unified Sports mentoring click here.

Motor Activities Training Program (MATP)

The Motor Activities Training Program (MATP) provides comprehensive motor activity and recreational training for people with severe intellectual disabilities or multi-handicaps with emphasis on training and participation rather than competition. The MATP is part of the commitment by Special Olympics to offer sports training opportunities to individuals with intellectual disabilities of all ability levels.

Young Athletes_TM

Young Athletes_TM is a physical activity and skill development program designed to introduce families and students, ages 3 – 8, to Special Olympics. This program is designed to address two specific levels of play: Level 1 includes physical activities designed to develop fundamental motor, tracking and eye-hand coordination play. Level 2 concentrates on the application of these physical activities through a sports skill activity program and developing skills consistent with Special Olympics Sports play. This program comes with lesson plans, skill kit, videos, training guides, and materials. There are currently grant funds available to support this initiative.

SO Get Into It!

A free service learning curriculum with lessons are designed to support and be in alignment with academic standards, youth and character development, service learning, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Lessons are designed to be consistent with national standards wherever possible. Learning activities support core curricular areas, particularly language arts, civics and history, social science, health and physical education. A key focus of this curriculum is character education-an approach to promote core ethical values as the basis of good character. Service Learning focusing on Special Olympics is a key component that is built into SO Get Into It.

Healthy Athletes^®

Healthy Athletes^® is designed to help Special Olympics Athletes improve their health and fitness, leading to enhanced sports experience and improved well being. The Special Olympics Healthy Athletes initiative includes these disciplines: Fit Feet, FUNFitness, Healthy Hearing, Opening Eyes and Special Smiles.  For more information, please click here.

Athlete Leadership Programs (ALPs)

ALPs allow athletes to explore opportunities for participation in roles previously considered “non-traditional.” Through ALPs, athletes serve on Boards of Directors or local organizing committees; athletes excel as spokespersons, team captains, coaches and officials. The Global Messenger program is a strong and thriving program in Special Olympics Massachusetts.

Special Olympics University Curriculum

This program consists of Special Olympics courses that can be incorporated into university curricula. These courses include current courses within the Special Olympics Coach Education System and Games Management Team Training. Students can gain practical experience in working with Special Olympics athletes or organizing sports competition opportunities while gaining college credit and completing service-learning projects.