Special Olympics Northern California
Divisioning Policy and Procedures

Overview

Ensuring fair divisoning of athletes for competition is one of the primary duties of the Competition Manager. The following criteria shall determine how Special Olympics Northern California (SONorCal) athletes are assigned to competition divisions. Where exceptions to these criteria are necessary, the Competition Manager will review proposed modifications to these criteria and make a final decision based on the goal of providing the most dignified and challenging competition experience for each athlete.

The Competition Manager has final authority concerning divisions and any variation from these criteria. Protests based on divisioning are not allowed.

Foundations of Divisioning

• Organized to highlight the athlete
• Equitable divisions
• Consistent competition
• 15% guideline
• 3-8 Competitors per division
• The Athlete is paramount

General Requirements

Ages

Athletes must be at least eight years of age to participate in Special Olympics competition. Certain sports and events may further restrict athlete participation based on age. If pertinent, additional age requirements are indicated in the specific rules for each sport.

Ability

As outlined in Article I of the Special Olympics, Inc. (SOI) Sports Rules, an athlete’s ability is the primary factor in divisioning Special Olympics competition. The ability of an athlete or team is determined by an entry score from a prior competition or is the result of a seeding round or preliminary event at the competition itself. The athlete’s Head Coach is responsible for ensuring that the athlete score utilized for divisioning most accurately reflects the true ability of the athlete. Other factors that are significant in establishing competitive divisions are age and gender.

Minimum and Maximum Competitors

Within each division, the minimum number of competitors or teams is three and the maximum number is eight. In some cases, however, the number of athletes or teams within a competition will be insufficient to achieve this goal. The following procedures describe the sequential process for creating equitable divisions and also provide guidance for managing athlete participation when factors preclude ideal divisioning:

Gender

• Individual Sports:
  • Divide athletes into two groups based on gender: female and male.
  • Athletes shall normally compete against other athletes of the same gender, unless the International Federation (IF)/ National Governing Body (NGB) rules specifically allow mixed-gender events (e.g., bowling, tennis, etc.).
• Team Sports:
  • Teams will be divided into two groups based upon gender.
    • Female teams shall compete against other female teams
    • Male teams shall compete against other male teams.
    • Mixed gender teams shall be divisioned with male teams unless there are sufficient mixed gender teams of similar ability to make a separate division.

Age Groups

• Individual Sports:
  • Divide male and female athletes into the following age groups:
    • Ages 8-11
    • Ages 12-15
    • Ages 16-21
    • Ages 22-29
    • Ages 30 and over
  • Additional age groups may be established if there are a sufficient number of competitors in the 30 and over age group. An athlete’s age group shall be determined by the athlete’s age on the date of the opening of the competition.
• Team Sports:
  • Divide male and female teams into the following age groups
    • Ages 21 and under (all athletes must be 21 years or under)
    • Ages 22 and over
  • Additional age groups may be established if there are a sufficient number of teams in the 22 and over age group. Teams should compete against other teams within the same age group.
• Age groups may be combined under the following circumstances:
  • In team sports: within each ability group, an age group may be competing against a team of a different age group. If there is only one team within an age or ability group, that team must compete against teams of other age and ability groups.
• An athlete’s age group shall be determined by the athlete’s age on the date of the start of the competition.

Ability

To complete the divisioning process, the following guidelines shall be applied according to the event being divisioned.

• Timed or point-scored events (events measured in time, distance or points):
  • For both genders and all age groups, rank athletes in descending order based upon submitted entry scores or divisioning events.
  • Group these ranked athletes so that the highest and lowest scores are as close as possible to the 15% guideline and the number of competitors is not less than three nor more than eight.

• Team Sports
  • All Special Olympics team sport competitions shall utilize previous competition results and a divisioning round (if applicable) to assess the level of ability of the participating teams.
  • Refer to the specific SONorCal Sports Rules & Guidelines for each team sport for division criteria matrix (keeping the top players in mind) to properly assess teams.
  • Group teams according to ability based upon the division criteria matrix and results from previous competition results and/or divisioning round(s).
  • Create divisions of no less than three by applying age groups to the teams within each ability group.

Resolving Divisioning Issues

• When the above process has been completed there will be instances where there will still be less than three competitors/teams in each division. In such cases the following method should be used:
  • Modify the ability range
  • It may be broadened beyond the 15% guideline.
  • Maximum should be 20% difference between the lowest and highest scores.

Expectations

• Final divisions of less than three athletes or teams are only permissible once age groups and ability range have been broadened as far as possible within the above guidelines.
• During individual events (Individual Skills Contest events in all sports, Bowling, Swimming, Track & Field), if a division consists of less than three individuals, the Competition Manager may run the event with multiple divisions, keeping a lane in between divisions and then award separately.
• Individual races between different genders of similar ability can be run at the same time but each gender must be in its own division and awarded separately.
• Where exceptions to these criteria are necessary, the Competition Manager will review proposed modifications to these criteria and make a final decision based on the goal of providing the most dignified and challenging competition experience for each athlete.
• The Competition Manager has final authority concerning divisions and any variation from these criteria.
• Protests based on divisioning are not allowed.

Disqualification and Maximum Effort

• If an athlete is disqualified in a preliminary event, they may be advanced to the final competition (for participation award only) provided that they can safely compete in that event and that a score that accurately measures their ability can be provided to the competition manager in charge of divisioning.
  • Athletes disqualified due to sportsmanship issues will not be allowed to advance.
• NOTE: The maximum effort rule is not currently enforced in SONorCal regional or chamoionship competitions.

Additional Resources

Divisioning in Special Olympics is explained in Article 1 Section 1 of the General Rules found here.