In Special Olympics, sports rules are reviewed every two years by the Sports Rules Advisory Committee (SRAC). The SRAC is made up of a range of volunteers and staff from Special Olympics regions worldwide i.e. Europe Eurasia, North America etc.
Each National Programme i.e. Special Olympics Ireland, Special Olympics Germany etc. must submit the proposed rules changes received from its members to Special Olympics International (SOI) not later than September 15th in the applicable year (2013, 2015, 2017). SOI then sends these out to Global Sports Resource Teams (SRT) to discuss. These global teams are a range of volunteers in each sport from the Special Olympics movement worldwide.
They provide a formal comment on proposed rules changes to the Sports Rules Advisory Committee (SRAC). The SRAC review all recommendations and may seek further information from the Sports Resource Teams and following this process, a decision will be made to either accept or reject the proposals.
The rules changes are summarised for approval by Special Olympics International, with the final new rules posted by January 31st the following year.
Two years later the process then commences again!
While a lengthy process, this provides every member of the Special Olympics organisation worldwide an opportunity to make recommendations on sports 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!
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Yes any person, volunteer, coach, family member or athlete can request a rules change in a sport. However it is important to note that if you are making a submission to change a sports rule, it should be to improve the sport worldwide and not a local solution to a local challenge.
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 at any time. The next submission from all worldwide programmes is due to be submitted on September 15th 2013 and at present this process will continue every 2 years (2015, 2017) from that date.
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.
All rules which have been changed are posted on the Special Olympics International website in the January following a review period. Due to timing differences and website updates at an international level, Special Olympics Ireland posts the relevant applicable rules on their website and these are the rules which should be in place at all levels of competition across the programme.
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 can 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 are divided in to two sections, Summer Sports Rules and Winter Sports Rules and should always be used in conjunction with Article 1 and the Regulations Governing Special Olympics Ireland Sports Handbook.