BADMINTON Special Olympics Sports Skills Program

Taking Athletes to a Competition
There should be a great deal of excitement as your athletes
get ready for the actual competition. This should be a fun
time for all involved, but take care to prepare your athletes
for the competition event by enacting the following plan.
1. Planning Ahead
• Clearly inform athletes and parents of the date and
location of the event.
• Build excitement for the event and focus the practices
on the competition.
• Organize transportation to and from the event.
• Prepare a checklist for athletes and for coaches:
• Examples for athletes: badminton racket, water bottle,
sweat towel, snacks, sweat suits.
• Examples for coaches: registration materials, medical
forms, emergency phone numbers, list of participants
and phone numbers, broken string repair kit, first-aid kit.
2. What to Do at the Competition Site
• Check in with badminton site coordinator.
• Take off court warm-up similar to practice.
• Have athletes stretch just as if they were at their own
practice session.
• Take warm-up on court (10-15 min.).
• Follow directions of the badminton coordinator for court
assignment.
• Compete according to SOI badminton rules.
• Watch athletes compete and offer encouragement and
praise winning shots.
• Make sure athletes shake opponent’s hand after
competition and display good sportsmanship—win or lose.
• Participate in awards presentation following the
conclusion of all matches.
• Make a point of saying something positive and concrete
to each athlete before they leave.
• Thank the parents and helpers who came to watch.
• Announce the time and location of the next practice.
3. Follow-Up
• Record the results of your individual team members.
• Evaluate their performance.
• Inform parents of athletes’results.
• Identify practice plan ideas to help athletes improve.
• Set realistic goals for next competition based on
performance.
Special Olympics Badminton Sports Skills Program
Divisioning in Special Olympics
In Special Olympics, every athlete must have a reasonable
chance to win. Whenever possible, athletes are divided into
age groups and segregated by sex. However, that is n o t
a lways possibl e .
The following order has been shown to be effective for
divisioning in this sport:
Age Divisions
Individual Sports
Youth: 8-11
Junior: 12-15
Senior: 16-21
Masters: 22-29
Senior Masters: 30+
Team Sports
Junior: 15 and under
Senior: 16-21
Masters: 22+
Managing a Small Competition
Since badminton is a new sport in the Special Olympics
family, it may be difficult to schedule a high volume of
competitions for your athletes to attend. Therefore, it may
be necessary for coaches to organize and develop local
competitions with invited teams and/or teams created from
the local athletes. The following guidelines are suggestions
for running a local competition.
Volunteers and Officials
If possible, recruit volunteers with basic understanding of
badminton rules and scoring.
Competition Director
Responsible for the overall organization of the event.
Serves as the final say on all protests. Recruits the teams
to participate and sets the format.
Registrar
Responsible for on-site check in; keeps results and organized
medals.
Individual Skills Test Officials
1. Group leader – Keeps the group together, rotates with the
group to the next station, and records scores.
2. Station leader – Describes skill to be tested and runs the
station. Awards points and makes judgment calls.
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