7000-202: VOTING ON SPORT RULE CHANGES

Review Date: February 2021                

Effective Date: June 2021

Rule changes in all Special Olympics Ontario official sports will take place in the year following their respective National Games. The rules will then be in effect until the following National Games for that sport.

Submissions of Proposals to the Provincial Office

Coaches must submit rule change proposals to the SOO Sport and Coach Team within the specified timelines.

The proposed rule changes shall include the following:

Change to an existing sport rule

  1. The rule, as it presently reads
  2. The rule restated in the form of a motion, indicating the change(s) that are to be made to the rule, and
  3. The rationale for the change

New rule

  1. The proposed new sport rule
  2. Rationale

Compilation of Proposals

The Sport and Competition Team shall:

  1. Compile all sport rule change proposals.
  2. Sort and review proposals to ensure that motions and rationales are clear and concise and not a reiteration of existing rules within generic sport.
  3. Discuss the proposed rule change and if necessary, contact the individual who submitted the motion to receive further clarification on their proposed rule change.
  4. Proposed rule changes / new rules that are passed will be forwarded to Special Olympics Canada. In the waiting period between the rule change submission process and the submission of the motion to Special Olympics Canada, the current SOC rules will stay in effect until the rule change process has been completed by Special Olympics Canada.

Submissions of Proposals to the National Office

Special Olympics Ontario will submit the proposed rule changes in the form of a motion to the National Office by the specified date.

Dissemination of Motions to the Chapters

The National office shall disseminate the motions and the rationale to the respective Chapters for review.

Review Period

Special Olympics Canada will invite chapter representatives to a meeting to review the rule changes for each sport and to determine overall consensus for the rule change.

The Canadian Sport Council will conduct a final review of all rule changes an be asked to complete a final vote for each rule change.

Results
Special Olympics Canada shall compile the results indicating the outcomes of the vote and each Chapter’s response. A majority vote is required for motion(s) to pass.

The Special Olympics Canada rules will be revised and posted on the Special Olympics Canada website.The revised rules will be in effect at this time.