Every May, Special Olympics celebrates Fitness and Sport Month, recognizing the power of sport to support athlete health, fitness, and performance. To celebrate, I met with Special Olympics Pakistan athlete and Fitness Captain Muaz Khan to learn about his journey to becoming a Fitness Captain.
Muaz has been an athlete for six years and a Fitness Captain for two years. Fitness Captains are athlete leaders who promote health, fitness, and healthy lifestyle habits within their Special Olympics teams and communities. They are trained to lead their sports teams in fitness activities, including warm-ups, cool downs, and exercises that enhance overall health and sports performance.
Today Fitness Captains are represented across all seven Special Olympics Regions in 80 Programs worldwide. In 2025 alone, a record-breaking 1,329 new Fitness Captains were trained, bringing the global total to 2,255.
Driven by a passion for fitness, Muaz became a Fitness Captain and today inspires his fellow athletes to practice healthy habits every day. After completing the Fitness Captain training two years ago, he embraced the idea that a great athlete is a healthy athlete and gained skills to lead safe and effective warm-ups and cool-downs while teaching his teammates about habits that improve fitness and sports performance.
With this new knowledge in hand, Muaz became a peer-leader for his teammates on and off the field. During practice and at Games, Muaz conducts warm-ups and cool-downs. He understands how important both are for sports performance. "Warm-ups are important because it prepares athletes to start being active before playing any match. Athletes get tired after playing, so cool-downs help them relax their bodies."
Muaz also shares health tips during training sessions, often times emphasizing how healthy eating habits are crucial to both health and fitness and referencing Special Olympics Fit 5 Guide. "I tell my teammates that they should drink eight glasses of water each day and have three home-cooked, healthy meals."
Implementing Fitness through Sport within practice and competition expands the reach of health and fitness programming through a focus on three connected outcomes:
- Performance: Including endurance, speed, strength, and flexibility
- Health: Including energy, healthy weight, and fewer injuries
- Wellbeing: Including reduced risk of disease and improved quality of life
In addition to teaching his teammates healthy habits, Muaz also inspires his classmates to stay active daily. Every day at school, Muaz leads fitness activities and exercises he learned from the Fit 5 Guide.
"My favorite part about being a Fitness Captain is the Fit 5 activity. I conduct the Fit 5 activity every morning in front of my entire school."
At the end of our conversation, Muaz shared advice to athletes considering becoming a Fitness Captain, "My life has changed a lot since becoming a Fitness Captain. I learned about the importance of exercise and so I do it very often, which has helped me become healthier. Once you become a Fitness Captain, your life will also change."
Interested in learning more about Fitness Captains? Check out the Fitness Captain webpage and email Gwendolyn Apgar (gapgar@specialolympics.org) for more information on how to offer a training.
