Teaching the Rules of Snowshoeing
The best time to teach the rules of snowshoeing is during practice. Please refer to the official
Special Olympics Sports Rules for the complete listing of snowshoeing rules. As coach, it is your responsibility to know and understand the rules of the game. It is equally important to teach your athletes the rules and to make them play within the spirit of the game. Below are selected laws of the sport of snowshoeing. Maintain current copies of the official
Special Olympics Sports Rules and your national and/or international federation snowshoeing rulebooks. Know the differences and carry these rulebooks to every game.
It is important that you as a coach learn and understand the rules and procedures of divisioning before attending competitions. Understanding the divisioning process will have a direct impact on your athletes' performance. The fundamental difference between Special Olympics competitions and those of other sports organizations is that athletes of all ability levels are encouraged to participate, and every athlete is recognized for his/her performance. Competitions are structured so that athletes compete with other athletes of similar ability in equitable divisions. Historically, Special Olympics has suggested that all divisions be created so that the variance between the highest and lowest scores within that division does not differ by more than 10 percent. This 10 percent statement is not a rule but should be used as a guideline for establishing equitable divisions when the number of athletes competing is appropriate.
Coaches are critical in helping competition management teams make divisioning work. Divisioning works best when coaches submit preliminary scores. This helps athletes get into the proper division as well as gain additional competition experience.
How Divisioning is Implemented
An athlete's ability is the primary factor in divisioning Special Olympics competitions. The ability of an athlete or team is determined by an entry score from a prior competition or the result of a seeding round or preliminary event at the competition itself. Other factors that are significant in establishing competitive divisions are age and sex.
Ideally, competition is enhanced when each division accommodates three to eight competitors or teams of similar ability. In some cases, the number of athletes or teams within a competition will be insufficient to achieve this goal. The following describes the sequential process for creating equitable divisions.
There are few differences in the rules for Special Olympics Unified SportsŪ competition as the rules are stipulated in the official
Special Olympics Sports Rules and modifications are outlined in the rules book. The additions are highlighted below.
- A roster consists of a proportionate numbers of athletes and partners.
- For snowshoeing, a Unified Sports team consists of two athletes and two partners of equal ability competing in the 4 x 100 and the 4 x 400 relay events.
Protest procedures are governed by the rules of competition and may change from competition to competition. Only rules violations can be protested. Judgment calls made by officials or divisioning decisions cannot be protested. The protest must site specific violations from the rulebook and a clear definition of why the coach feels the rule was not followed.
The role of the competition management team is to enforce the rules. As a coach, your duty to your athletes and team is to protest any action or events while your athletes are competing that you think violated the
Official Snowshoeing Rules. It is extremely important that you do not make protests because you and your athlete did not get your desired outcome of an event. Filing a protest is a serious matter that can impact a competition's schedule. Check with the competition team prior to a competition to learn the protest procedures for that competition.
