Beyond Special Olympics

Studies have shown that people who are fit in their 30’s do better in their health as they age. For many that fitness comes from playing sports they learned in their youth. In sports you may have to train with conditioning or strength training to improve performance. These practices develop life time habits that are good for us.

It is hard to mess with special olympics where every kid is a winner. There are team sports for special needs atheletes where kids can experience the sport. But is there a place for these kids to excel in the sport? Here they learn the how to (skills to play) and get the feeling of striving to do the best they can. Most kids will not develop skills in the olympic games. It is a fun day. I’m OK with that.

There are kids who have a talent. They can actually run. There may be something in their disability that hinders them from gettting all the steps needed to compete. 

If they love to play a sport can they learn how to train for that sport and work at the skills, endurance or strength it takes to make progress in the game. Can they get a coach who will know the game and how to make them better at it.

In a sport it is the training that is learned that can set up a life time behavior that can effect health. A special needs athelete who particapates in the sport to their late thirties may develop the practice and training habits that will translate into better health as they age.

As they transition into older life they could learn other sports like frisbee golf that can keep them on the move into their 50’s and 60’s. Being on a swim team or a cycling club could teach them how to do these things into their senior years. 

Can their be teams develop to do 5K’s or half marathon runs or walks? Can they learn to weight train, circut train for life? To learn these habits would take months to learn and not just a few days. With others they will have to take time to compensate to experience the activity. 

There is something to said for working at a goal and actually making progress towards it.

Consider for the moment the aging special needs person? Can bird watching activities be put in place where there is walking to do with the activity? 

Daily walking can be training to hike special places on vacation. Add learning to take pictures or movings fro a travel log can add extra motivation. Daily walking can also be good for the adult care givers as well.

Live by a zoo? Get a membership where you can make safaris to different exibits three times a week to take pictures of a particular animal. Walking skills and packed meal for a picnic, learning how to frame a shot can create a life time interest and improve health. Targeting the animal will keep the trip focused on the hunt and walk and keep the time small enough to repeat. They can look up the animal on line and learn one thing about the animal.

Bike trails can offer opportunities through out the year. Adding a camera can help give a focus. See if the pictures improve over time. 

A special needs student can assist a senior citizen pushing a chair to a site on a walk. Exercise is gained for the student and service to others to boot. Linking the activity with skills to be improved and reaching goals gives experiences of accomplishment and particapation in this wonderful thing we call life. Keep walking

Kids can actually learn a sport - http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/a-swim-team-for-teens-with-autism/?hpw&rref=health&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region&region=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well