Special Olympics Massachusetts

MISSION The mission of Special Olympics Massachusetts (SOMA) is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of well-coached Olympic-type sports for individuals with intellectual disabilities by providing them with continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, prepare for entry into school and community programs, express courage, experience joy, and participate in the sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympic Athletes, and the community. DESCRIPTION Special Olympics contributes to the physical, social, and psychological development of people with mental challenges. Through successful experiences in sports, their athletes gain confidence and build positive self-images, which go with them into their homes, classrooms, jobs, and communities. Special Olympics sprang from the simple philosophy that all people benefit from participation in sports. In the early 1960's, Eunice Kennedy Shriver held a daycamp for people with mental retardation and, through encouragement and instruction, children and adults with mental retardation proved themselves more athletically capable than anyone had thought possible. They also enjoyed many other benefits - physical, social, and psychological. Mrs. Shriver organized the First International Special Olympics Games, which were held in 1968 at Soldier Field in Chicago. At those first Games, 1,000 athletes from the United States and Canada competed in track and field and aquatics. IMPACT Today, still headed by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics is the world's largest year-round program of physical fitness, sports training, and athletic competition for people with mental retardation and/or closely related developmental disabilities. Close to one million athletes participate, with athletes in every state of the U.S. and in over 140 countries around the world. What started out as a daycamp has rapidly developed into an organization of international significance, and Special Olympics has indeed become "A World of Winners."