The Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model outlines several stages to guide athletes through the development process.  Special Olympics Alberta’s sport programs allow for our athletes to explore their potential as athletes, ultimately encouraging athletes to stay active for life.  At any point in these stages, athletes are able to transition from a competition focus to a community based recreation focus.

Learning to Train- In the ‘Learning to Train’ stage, athletes ages 8 and up explore a variety of sport experiences, determine if they have a predisposition for or particular enjoyment of specific sports, and are introduced to the specific physical fitness training required for the selected sports.

Training to Train-  In the ‘Training to Train’ stage, athletes select 2 or 3 complementary sports where the emphasis is on improving the sport-specific skills and sport-specific fitness and focus on training not just competing.  Athletes in this stage are encouraged to compete at regional and/or provincial/ territorial Games.

Training to compete and training to win- Special Olympics athletes who decide to pursue high performance competition are able to compete nationally and internationally.

Special Olympics Sports programs vary across communities, but include both recreational and competitive opportunities.  In addition to officially sanctioned sports, various fitness and recreational programs exist in different communities.

SOA's official sports include: