Healthy Athlete's Initiative

There are many initiatives that go beyond the sports competitions arena for the Special Olympics (Kinet, 2015). These initiatives help to fulfill the program into areas that the intellectual disabled need it the most. They go above the sports and into everyday life and help them to maintain a healthy and happier lifestyle. The Healthy Athlete’s initiative is one that was started in the response to much needed health care for individuals with intellectual disabilities. The official launch of this initiative was in 1996 (Malinauskas, Aeby, Harris, Overton, & Pawlak, 2007). This initiative was put in place to enable the athlete to participate and train and also make healthy lifestyle choices that improved their long term health and wellness (Malinauskas,
There have been thousands of free screening and examinations provided under the Healthy Athletes initiative. The most successful and longest standing is the Healthy Smiles (Kinet, 2015). A few of the aspects of the Healthy Athletes initiative are the FUN fitness program and the Fit Feet Program. Through the Healthy Athlete’s initiative, intellectually disabled individuals are given vitally important health care and accessibility to health programs (Special Olympics, 2016). This access will enhance their well-being and quality of life as well as sports performance (Kinet, 2015). Not only does Healthy Athletes benefit the Special Olympic athlete, it also benefits the medical professionals through increased knowledge and compassion for people with intellectual disabilities (Kinet,
According to the rules of participation in the Special Olympics, the athlete must be eight years old in order to participate (Special Olympics, 2016). Through this initiative, children ages 2-7 are being prepared and trained for competitions as well as life skills (Holder, 2015). This program is used to help the young children to acclimate to the environment of motor and skill development. Launched in 2005 in eleven countries and nine states in the US, young athletes is a relatively new initiative(Special Olympics, 2016).Most of the Young Athletes programs are school based programs in typical public schools, specialized schools disabilities, or Head Start Programs and occur 1-2 times per week for 30 minutes increments (Holder, 2015). There are usually 3-9 children with 1-4 adults within each classroom (Holder, 2015). The classes are based on various skills such as jumping, marching, maintaining balance, and many other basic motor development skills (Kinet, 2015). Although this is a program for young children, the families also benefit greatly from this initiative. They learn how to interact with their child in new ways that promotes healthy growth and development. In the United States, most parents expressed that the program met or exceeded their goals for their child and that they will continue the program (Holder, 2015). Also, 75% of the parent’s stated that they