Special Olympics competitions are governed by official sports rules based on the relevant International Sport Federation and National Governing Body rules.
 

In some sports, e.g. athletics, where additional events specific to Special Olympics are offered such as softball throw and standing long jump, Special Olympics International has created official rules for these events.

At Area, Regional and Special Olympics Ireland level, the relevant National Governing Body rules apply, except where there is a conflict between these rules adn the Official Special Olympics Rules. In this situation, Special Olympics rules would apply.
 

At International level, e.g. European or World Games, competitions are run in accordance with the International Federation rules.

In Special Olympics, sports rules are reviewed yearly and anyone, volunteer, coach, family member or athlete can request a rules change in a sport. Should you wish to submit a rules change request, you need to complete a Proposed Rules Change Form and submit it to your Regional Development Officer - Sport or to Elaine Twomey elaine.twomey@specialolympics.ie on or before March 28th of each year.

 

All rules which have been changed are posted on the Special Olympics International website on January 31st each year and at the same time Special Olympics programmes are notified of the changes.

 

As soon as Special Olympics Ireland is notified of any changes in the sports rules, a timeline for the introduction of the change into the programme is agreed with the Regions, as it may not be possible to bring a change into effect immediately. However, if a change has been made due to safety reasons, that change will be brought into effect immediately.

 

Each National Programme must submit the proposed rules changes received from it's members to Special Olympics International (SOI) not later than April 15th each year. SOI then sends these out to Global Sports Resource Teams to discuss. These are panels of experts in each sport from across the Special Olympics movement. They provide a formal comment on proposed rules changes to the Sports Rules Advisory Committee (SRAC) by the end of June each year.
 

In July and August the SRAC discusses the recommendations and gleans further information from the Sports Resource Teams, and in September of each year, meets and votes on the proposed rules changes.

Following the SRAC vote in September, the rules changes are summarised for approval by the CEO of Special Olympics International and before the end of the year, the rules changes are made internally by SOI, with the final new rules posted by January 31st.
 

The process then commences again!
 

While a lengthy process, this provides every member of the Special Olympics organisation worldwide with an opportunity to make recommendations on rules changes. The important thing to remember, is that these changes affect everyone in every programme, therefore, it is important, when proposing changes, that we consider whether this rule change will benefit the programme globally!

 

All sports rules are available from any Special Olympics office or directly from the Special Olympics International website. On this website you will find the rules in effect for the year and also a listing of any rules which may have been changed in this cycle.

 

Yes, in addition to sports rules, there are other rules, contained in Article 1 of the Special Olympics General Rules which do not impact sport. These include rules such as divisioning for competition, advancement through one level of competition to the next and how awards are presented, to name but a few. Official Special Olympics Sports Rules have both universal sports rules which apply across all sports, which can be found in Article 1 and sports specific Summer Sports Rules and Winter Sports Rules.

 

 

The timelines for changes to the National Governing Body rules vary from sport to sport, and to check these you should consult the relevant National Governing Body for Sport. You can find their websites listed here.