General (not sport-specific) Coaching Training

Coaching the Special Olympics Athlete (CSOA) 

CSOA is the core baseline course required for virtually all Special Olympics coaches. A coach is only required to complete this specific course one-time, however coaches must renew their Coach Sport Certifications at least every three years through completion of other coach education and development options.

CSOA Online Self-paced Course

Special Olympics North America recently launched an updated version of the previously available online self-paced version of CSOA, now hosted on SO Learn. This course takes an estimated total time of 90 minutes to complete and coaches can pause and come back to the course as they need to (rather than having to complete in a single sitting). Coaches will need to download the course completion certificate from SO Learn and send it to coaches@somd.org to receive credit for having completed the course.

NOTE: The SO LEARN site (also used for protective behaviors and concussion certifications) is operated by SOI. If you experience any technical issues with the site (including accessing your password) please email learning@specialolympics.help for assistance.

CSOA Virtual Courses

SOMD is pleased to offer virtual training sessions for Coaching the Special Olympics Athlete, a requirement for all Coaches.  These 3-hour sessions are highly participatory courses and participants must be able to join with both their web camera and microphone "on" (Due to the conversational and interactive nature of this course, we must have a minimum of 7 registrants at least 3 business days prior to the course in order for it to be held.)

Registration for Virtual sessions of CSOA in 2026 is now OPEN for the following session(s). Each course is from 6:00-9:00pm via Zoom and has a maximum capacity of 20 participants.

Tuesday, October 27, 2026, 6:00-9:00pm

To register, please use this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CSOA_2026_Q3Q4

Note: Registration is handled via SurveyMonkey. The Zoom link for the course will be sent to registrants the day of the course. There will not be an immediate confirmation of registration, however SOMD will send weekly or bi-weekly updates to all registrants for each course session (depending on the volume of registrants in that time frame).

CSOA Live Courses

SOMD occasionally hosts live and in-person CSOA courses. Due to the conversational and interactive nature of this course, we must have a minimum of 7 registrants at least 3 business days prior to the course in order for it to be held.

The Live Coaching Special Olympics Athletes (CSOA) sessions can be hosted by Areas and SOMD HQ can assist in identifing properly trained course facilitators. These sessions must have a guaranteed minimum of 7 registrants to be considered.

We look forward to possibly scheduling in-person CSOA sessions in early 2027.

 

Special Olympics Unified Sports Coaching Course (aka Coaching Unified Sports or CUS)

The Unified Sports Coaching Course is the core baseline course required for Special Olympics coaches who exclusively coach Unified® Sports. A coach is only required to completed this specific course one-time, however coaches must renew their Coach Sport Certifications at least every three years through completion of other coach education and development options. This course can also be taken by coaches who also coach in traditional Special Olympics programs (non-unified) for general interest or to renew/extend their current coaching certifications.

CUS Online "Self-Paced" Format

Special Olympics North America recently launched an updated version of the previously available online self-paced version of the Unified Sports Coaching Course, now hosted on SO Learn. This course takes an estimated total time of 90 minutes to complete and coaches can pause and come back to the course as they need to (rather than having to complete in a single sitting). Coaches will need to download the course completion certificate from SO Learn and send it to coaches@somd.org to receive credit for having completed the course.

NOTE: The SO LEARN site (also used for protective behaviors and concussion certifications) is operated by SOI. If you experience any technical issues with the site (including accessing your password) please email learning@specialolympics.help for assistance.

 

Principles of Coaching (PoC)

PoC is an advanced coaching course open to all interested coaches and offers a "deeper dive" into key coaching topics and is a requirement for all coaches wishing to take teams/athletes or serve as a coach to any competition above the state level (including USA Games, World Games, NITs, NIRSA events, etc.). This free course is intended for coaches with a minimum of two years coaching experience and, along with appropriate sport-specific training, serves to certify a coach as an Advanced Coach. Note that completing PoC does NOT exempt a coach from the baseline requirement of completing CSOA.

PoC Online "Self-Paced" Format

Principles of Coaching is available for coaches to take as an online, on-demand, self-paced, video-based course via CoachTube. Though coaches will need to create an account with CoachTube, the course is free. At the completion of the course, and after successfully passing the course test, coaches will be able to download an e-certificate that they must forward to coaches@somd.org to get course credit and earn or renew the Advanced Level Coach Certification (provided they’ve met all other requirements). SOMD does NOT get any reports directly from CoachTube so coaches must send this e-certificate to earn credit for the course.

To access the course, go to CoachTube and enter Special Olympics in the search box (where it asks “What’s your sport?”)

PoC Live and Virtual Courses

Occasionally SOMD will offer either in-person or virtual PoC courses.

There are currently no Principles of Coaching courses scheduled.