After four weeks of amazing webinars, the Coach Webinar Series 2022, presented by Gallagher has concluded. The Coach Webinar Series was created to allow coaches around the world to come together, interact, and learn from industry leading experts, experienced Special Olympics coaches, and to hear from athletes themselves about what they wish to see from their coaches.
The webinar series was attended by over 700 individual coaches across the four weeks.
Over 120 countries were represented by those who registered.
Over 720 organisations were listed by registrants.
The webinar series was made up of four 60-minute webinars covering four different topics related to coaching. (Watch the recorded webinars below.)
Week 1: Coaching Mixed Ability Athletes
Special Olympics Australia Athlete Leader, Ruby Lawler, hosted our first webinar of the series. Ruby hosted SO Singapore Unified Football Coach, Yuchi Huang, who discussed SO Singapore’s preparation and attendance at the 2022 Unified Cup. Yuchi was the recipient of the Gallagher Coach’s Coach Award for the male competition in Detroit this year.
Yuchi discussed the importance of culture when creating a Unified team, and how it’s not about picking the most talented players but rewarding those who embrace the essence of Unified Sports.
Special Olympics Massachusetts coach and Hall of Fame inductee, Christin Santiago also joined the webinar. Christin discussed the role of coaching Special Olympics athletes and how the lessons learned from sports apply on and off the field.
Watch Ruby, Yuchi, and Christin’s webinar here: Special Olympics Coach Webinar Series 2022 presented by Gallagher—Coaching Mixed Ability Athletes
Week 2: ‘What we want from our coaches’—Special Olympics Athlete and Unified Partner Panel
The second webinar brough together a group of Special Olympics athletes and a Unified Partner to discuss what they have learned from their experience of being coached.
Hosted by Special Olympics Great Britain athlete and coach, Kiera Byland. Our panel included Special Olympics China Athlete Yang Yihong, SO Kenya Athlete Boniface Kimeu, and former athlete and now coach, Joshua Agare, and Unified Partner, Angel Rios Santos from Special Olympics Puerto Rico.
Kiera moderated a discussion between all of the panel members and asked a number of questions about their experience of being coached as athletes. Kiera asked what Joshua and Angel have learned that has impacted how they coach and the philosophy they apply in their coaching of Special Olympics Athletes.
Watch Kiera, Yang, Joshua, Boniface, and Angel’s webinar here: Special Olympics Coach Webinar Series 2022 presented by Gallagher—"What We Want From Our Coaches"
Week 3: The Coach-Athlete Relationship
Webinar three was hosted by Special Olympics Paraguay Athlete, Rosalino Chavez. Our first guest, Professor Sophia Jowett talked about the recent research carried out in the area of the coach-athlete Relationship. Professor Jowett is a leading academic in the area of coach-athlete relationships and offered up some fantastic findings and practical pieces for coaches to apply in their everyday coaching. Professor Jowett also shared a number of invaluable resources for coaches to use to understand the coach-athlete relationship further. These resources are available on the Coach Webinar Series Dashboard.
Professor Jowett’s presentation was followed by Paralympic Alpine Ski coach Justus Wolf presenting on his experience of the coach-athlete relationship. Justus discussed the various pieces that coaches should consider when building a positive relationship with their athletes. Justus gave coaches practical pieces of information to assist them with their athletes. Information such as the relationship with athletes, influences on them, the challenges they can face, and how to get the best out of athletes.
You can watch Rosalino, Sophia, and Justus’ webinar here: Special Olympics Coach Webinar Series 2022, presented by Gallagher—The Coach-Athlete Relationship
Week 4: Health and Fitness for Sports Coaches
The final webinar of the 2022 Coach Webinar Series, presented by Gallagher, was focused on Health and Fitness for Sports Coaches. Hosted by Special Olympics Malta Athlete Leader and Health Messenger, Gilmour Borg, we heard from two fitness experts about the research behind Special Olympics fitness and how to include fitness in your training and competition scheduling.
Monica Forquer, a fitness advisor, presented the research that has been carried out on integrating fitness through sport. Monica’s research highlights coach and athlete perspective of how fitness is currently included in sport, and how to optimise and improve health outcomes through sport.
Monica was followed by Tom Norton, a Special Olympics coach and fitness professional who highlighted how to include fitness into your planning, training, and competition environments. Tom discusses the importance of planning in advance and utilising the resources available to integrate fitness into all your training and competition.
You can watch Gilmour, Monica, and Tom’s webinar here: (English) Special Olympics Coach Webinar Series 202—Health and Fitness for Sports Coaches
