Special Olympics
Before I begin my paper I wanted to give a little history on the background of the Special Olympics. The first International Special Olympics Games were held at Soldier Field in Chicago 1968. It was originally started by a woman named Anne McGlone Burke, who was a physical education teacher with the Chicago Park school district. She began with the idea for a one-time Olympic-style athletic competition for people with special needs. Burke then contacted Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who was the head of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation to fund the event. Mrs. Shriver loved the idea and encouraged Ms. Burke to expand on the idea and the JPK Foundation gave a grant of $25,000. More than 1,000 athletes from all over the United States and Canada participated in the first game. At that game Mrs. Shriver announced the formation of the Special Olympics and it has continued to grow from there. (Http://specialolympics.org)
Describe the nature of the organization, it's size, and any specific HR challenges it faces. The nature of the Special Olympics which is held every year, is to provide the visitors and the participants from all parts of the world a sporting event for people to have fun and excitement and also to get to know their own sport talents. Whether the sport is swimming competition, basketball, bowling, or golf a person gets to take part and enjoy the game more than he or she may have expected it to be. The Special olympics is growing, increasing at a rate of 10.5%. It has grown so large that over 9000 additional competitions take place. Since there is such a growth in competitons there has also bee n a growth with the need for coaches. Currently, there are over 260,000 coaches working for the organization, and 700,000 volunteers supporting the Special Olympics training competition and sports related activities. (Http://specialolympics.org) Those are huge numbers, the ratio is 12 athletes to one coach! I think one of the biggest challenges HR faces
Describe the nature of the organization, it's size, and any specific HR challenges it faces. The nature of the Special Olympics which is held every year, is to provide the visitors and the participants from all parts of the world a sporting event for people to have fun and excitement and also to get to know their own sport talents. Whether the sport is swimming competition, basketball, bowling, or golf a person gets to take part and enjoy the game more than he or she may have expected it to be. The Special olympics is growing, increasing at a rate of 10.5%. It has grown so large that over 9000 additional competitions take place. Since there is such a growth in competitons there has also bee n a growth with the need for coaches. Currently, there are over 260,000 coaches working for the organization, and 700,000 volunteers supporting the Special Olympics training competition and sports related activities. (Http://specialolympics.org) Those are huge numbers, the ratio is 12 athletes to one coach! I think one of the biggest challenges HR faces
References: Http://specialolympics.org Http://nonprofitprofessionals.com www.sode.org www.sonc.org