Coaching Athletes with a Disability - Coaching Association of Canada

Appendix 3: Perspective from the coachesAt the World Winter Games for Special Olympians held in Japan in 2005, Roman’s skaters won two goldand a silver medal. “Now the clubs brag about their Special Olympians,” says Roman. “Their pictures areplastered all over the noticeboards with World Champion beside their names. In some cases that’s howthe other kids find out that that skater in their group is in fact a Special Olympian. They never evenknew. I don’t make an issue of it.”Perhaps Roman’s greatest attribute is her determination as a coach. Don’t tell her she can’t dosomething, because her nature is to prove you wrong. “I don’t know why I’m like that, but I guess thathelps my coaching,” she says. “Coaching figure skating to Special Olympians was an interesting newchallenge for me. But I discovered that there wasn’t much difference with mainstream skaters. Just theapproach was sometimes different, and I had to think of different ways to explain things. “A key tomaking Special Olympians feel comfortable is constant positive thought.”Roman has never worried too much about politically correct language for instructing Special Olympians.She isn’t worried that she could hurt their feelings or insult them with a wrong turn of a phrase. “Theonly thing I avoid is ‘You can’t’. My belief is that they understand that my heart is in the right place. IfI make a mistake in what I say, they’ll know that I didn’t mean it in a negative way.”“I can’t spend my time worrying. I have to spend it giving.”© Coaching Association of Canada, 2005 40