Minnetonka Hopkins Gymnastics Association

Description

Special Olympics is an international organization dedicated to empowering individuals with intellectual disabilities to engage in sports training and competition. Special Olympics offers children and adults year-round training and competition in 26 Olympic-type summer and winter sports. The mission of Special Olympics is to give athletes continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in sharing gifts, skills and friendship.

Our coaching philosophy at Mini-Hops is to maintain a disciplined, respectful and challenging environment which encourages athletes to train to reach their personal best and of course have fun!

Who is eligible for Special Olympics?

To be eligible to participate in Special Olympics, an individual must be at least six years old to train and eight years old to compete and be identified by an agency or professional as having one of the following conditions: mental, and/or cognitive delays as measured by formal assessment, or significant learning or vocational problems due to cognitive delay that require or have required specially designed instruction.

What type of gymnastics training happens at Mini-Hops? Isn’t gymnastics too hard for most people?

Gymnastics combines strength, flexibility and artistry. Mini-Hops features both Artistic and Rhythmic Gymnastics. Both are surprisingly accessible sports and the ability to participate in them is not heavily dependent on age, body type, or fitness level (which will increase with training). The Special Olympic routines are progressive in nature and are carefully designed to work on the most basic skills and build on that foundation. Our team has athletes ranging in age from 7 to 39, some who are physically as well as developmentally challenged. All are able to participate meaningfully and with a sense of accomplishment.

Female athletes in Artistic Gymnastics train and compete in four events: There are several levels at which athletes perform artistic routines, starting with the compulsory levels, 1 through 3, and moving up to the more difficult optional level 4.