March 2016 - Parks & Recreation - 36

Member to Member
Young Athletes: Programming
for the Future
By Ariel Kliem, LRT, CTRS

T

he Mecklenburg County Park and Recreation Department
(MCPRD)/Therapeutic Recreation Section (TRS) and Special
Olympics of North Carolina are paving the way for young athletes
and early intervention programs.

In 2004, the Special Olympics International Board of Directors and
its Program Committee discussed the
idea of including children younger
than 8 years old in developmentally appropriate activities as an early
outreach mechanism for new athletes and their families. The Program
Committee focused on the benefits

of early skills development activities
in preparation for sports training and
competitions, health benefits and
physical therapy, as well as social and
cognitive development. This led to
the development of the Young Athletes Program (YAP).
YAP is open to children with and
without disabilities - MCPRD's

The Special Olympics' Young Athletes Program is focused on early
skills development activities for
children younger than 8 years of
age, with and without disabilities.

34	 Parks & Recreation

| M A R C H 2 0 1 6 | W W W. PA R K S A N D R E C R E AT I O N . O R G

program primarily targets 2-5 year
olds within select pre-kindergarten
classrooms. It is offered in an inclusive setting at certain school sites and
focuses on teaching the fundamental
skills of a variety of different sports.
When the Special Olympics created YAP, it was a loosely formed initiative that focused on programming
for children with developmental delays and/or developmental disabilities who were too young to participate in a traditional Special Olympics
program. In order to participate in
Special Olympics sports, children
must be at least 8 years of age. YAP
offers an opportunity for those too
young to participate in Special Olympics sports to learn the basic skills
required and to also increase gross
motor skills.
The Beginning
In the spring of 2009, the Therapeutic Recreation Section of MCPRD
was approached by Special Olympics
of North Carolina to discuss partnering on this newly piloted initiative.
TRS had a meeting with one of the
state vice presidents of Special Olympics and visited a Young Athletes
Field Day event being held in Cabarrus County to see the structure of its
program. Since YAP was still a new
concept, there was very little information on how to make the program
successful or even what direction to
take with its development. Because
the program was in the pilot stage,
each site was allowed to develop its



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