Hanna Atkinson SSIGM Blog #12 — Virtual Athlete Leadership Workshop

By: Hanna Atkinson, Sargent Shriver International Global Messenger, Special Olympics Colorado

Emily Klinger and I were co-hosts for the Special Olympics Introduction to Athlete Leadership workshop in 2020. The purpose of the module that I taught was to discuss the Special Olympics mission statement and important facts, learn about Unified leadership, and allow the participants to explore their own leadership journeys and how it translates to a more unified format. The whole experience was done through a virtual Zoom call.

We began with our mission statement:

To provide year-round sports training and athlete competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, participate in the sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families and other Special Olympics athletes and their community.

I even learned some new facts about Special Olympics! These are the impressive facts about Special Olympics that you might want to keep in mind:

• There are over 250 states and countries that have Special Olympics Programs.
• There are more than 5.7 million athletes in Special Olympics.
• There are 50,000 Athlete Leaders in meaningful roles in Special Olympics.

After that, we launched into raising the awareness of Unified Leadership.

To show an example to my peers, I referred to my own statement on Unified Leadership: “It means valuing each other and giving everyone a chance for an equal opportunity to succeed in their interest. We all want to be accepted, included, and productive in our communities and just need support on how to lead. It means learning from each other.”

The final lesson, which was very valuable, was for athletes to define their own leadership style. We each developed our own personal mission statement through this lesson, which I will share with you, “I want to inspire others to do their best. I can do this through speaking the message of hope and the power of inclusion. My goal is to reach at least one person or group each month with this message so that every person feels valued and has the chance to share their unique talents.”

Athlete Leaders: consider doing an Athlete Leadership Workshop!

To all athlete leaders throughout Special Olympics, what is your mission statement?