Welcome to the GTA District!
Special Olympics Ontario (SOO) is a community-based organization. Its primary instrument of program delivery is through community sports clubs, which are operated by a team of dedicated volunteers and coaches. These programs give athletes an opportunity to train twelve months of the year in order to compete and test their skills against athletes from around the country.
Special Olympics Ontario, at all levels of the organization, strives to involve families and care providers of Special Olympics athletes to participate and share in the joy of our programs. Special Olympics can provide family members with a sense of pride in their athlete, a sense of accomplishment through sports and the hope of an exciting and bright future for the individual as an athlete.
Special Olympics promotes opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and develop skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympic athletes and the community.
Over the past 40 years Special Olympics has grown from a modest program serving local athletes to become the world’s largest movement dedicated to promoting respect, acceptance, inclusion, and human dignity for people with intellectual disabilities through sports.
Special Olympics provides quality sport training programs and competitions for athletes living with an intellectual disability in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The GTA district includes the following Community Councils:
- Greater Durham (Durham Region)
- Newmarket & Area (Newmarket, Keswick, Georgina, Bradford)
- York South (Richmond Hill, Markham, Stouffville)
Important Policy Updates
Please note that after an extensive review of all of our provincial sport policies and in consultation with our stakeholders and volunteers, Special Olympics Ontario has updated a number of current policies and created new policies put in place as of February 23rd, 2018. There were a number of factors that went into the consideration of these new changes to our policies. To view these factors and for more information regarding the updates and new policies, please read the attached Memo.
New Polices include the following:
- 13.2.4 - Use of a Service Dog
- 13.3.29 - Two Year Eligibility Cycle
- 13.3.30 - Forfeit Policy
- 13.3.31 - High Performance Quotas for Provincial Games
Updated policies include the following:
- 13.3.14 - Athlete Selection Criteria for Advancement to Provincial Games Individual
- 13.3.15 - Athlete Eligibility for Provincial Games
- 13.3.18 - Team Eligibility for Participation at Provincial Games
- 13.3.20 - Athlete Selection for Advancement to National Games Individual
All new and updated policies can be found on Special Olympics Ontario’s Information Portal.
All noteworthy announcements will posted here, or under currently happening.
Announcements will be archived into one of the three news sections below.
Across the province, thousands of people volunteer with Special Olympics Ontario, taking pride in knowing they're providing athletes with intellectual disabilities an opportunity to experience the excitement, joy and personal fulfillment associated with participating in sport.
Currently, there are over 12,000 volunteer coaches, club managers, fundraisers and administrators providing sport programs for over 23,000 athletes in Ontario. Whether you would like to volunteer individually or as a member of a school or other organization there are many opportunities to choose from. Whether you can volunteer for just a few hours on a single day as a scorekeeper, or several hours a week as a special events coordinator, there are volunteer opportunities flexible for you!
Our communities throughout the GTA are always in need of dedicated volunteers to provide support for our weekly programs. Whether as coaches, organizers, fundraisers or single-day event volunteers, the over 20,000 Special Olympics Athletes in Ontario depend on the passion and commitment of the over 10,000 volunteers that operate clubs and guide communities and committees. Below is a listing of volunteer contacts in your community.
If you would like to register as a Special Olympics volunteer, please click here!
If you're looking to connect with community programs near you, please see below for the appropriate contact information.
GTA District Developer
416-447-8326 ext. 256
GTA District Developer
416-447-8326 ext. 255