Key Takeaways — Mighty Oak Athletic is an official Special Olympics Illinois agency. Starting in November we train a free powerlifting team for athletes with intellectual disabilities: ages 14 and up compete at Regionals on March 20–21, 2027; ages 8–13 train in a development group. Sessions are Mondays at 7:30 PM and Saturdays at 8:30 AM in Westmont. No cost, no membership. Tell Coach Mike about your athlete at mightyoakathletic.com/special-olympics.
For a couple of years now, some of the strongest kids in our gym have been athletes with intellectual disabilities. They show up, they chalk up, and they pull. Nobody treats them differently because nobody has to. A barbell does not know who is lifting it. What they have not had is a team to lift for. As of this month, they do. Mighty Oak Athletic is an official Special Olympics Illinois agency, and in November we start training a powerlifting team.
Here is what that means in plain terms. Special Olympics Illinois is open to any athlete age 8 or older with an intellectual disability. That covers Down syndrome, autism with a cognitive delay, cerebral palsy with a cognitive delay, global developmental delay, and any level of intellectual disability. If your child has an IEP for an intellectual disability or a developmental delay, they almost certainly qualify. There is no upper age limit, and you do not need a diagnosis letter in hand to ask. If you are not sure, fill out the form and I will call you and sort it out.
Powerlifting is three lifts: the squat, the bench press, and the deadlift. It is also the one Special Olympics sport with a minimum competition age of 14, so our team has two groups. Athletes 14 and up train for the Special Olympics Illinois Regionals on March 20 and 21 at Marmion Academy in Aurora. Win gold there and you go to Summer Games in Bloomington-Normal in June. Athletes 8 to 13 join our development group, learn the same lifts with the same coaches, and move up to the competition team the season they turn 14.
I have coached Special Olympics powerlifting with Marshall-Starke County in Indiana, and I can tell you what makes it work. Athletes compete against lifters of the same gender, age group, weight class, and strength level, so a 15-year-old who benches 65 pounds is not lifting against a 30-year-old who benches 300. Most athletes medal in their own division, and they earn it. The meet runs on the same commands and the same rules as any powerlifting meet, so we train that way from the first session. Every athlete starts with the bench press and deadlift. Squats begin after each athlete completes the Special Olympics Illinois squat safety training.
Sessions are Mondays at 7:30 PM and Saturdays at 8:30 AM at our gym, 6424 S. Cass Ave. in Westmont, with no more than 12 athletes on the floor. Every coach who works with the team completes Special Olympics Illinois Class A certification: a background check, Protective Behaviors training, and concussion training. Every squat and every bench press has spotters. We start light, we add weight slowly, and we coach one lift at a time.
It is free. Special Olympics does not allow fees for athletes or families, and I would not want to charge one anyway. You do not need a Mighty Oak Athletic membership. Athletes bring a T-shirt, flat athletic shoes, and knee-length socks for deadlift days. We supply the bars, plates, and racks, and we help with meet-day gear like singlets.
Joining takes three steps. Fill out the short form on our Special Olympics page. I call you, confirm your athlete qualifies, and invite them to a first session. Then you register your athlete with Special Olympics Illinois online, which is two forms with no doctor’s visit for most athletes, and we walk you through it. The entry paperwork for Regionals is due February 16, so the sooner an athlete starts, the more training weeks they get before March.
Two more doors are open. Athletes without an intellectual disability can lift as Unified Partners, side by side with Special Olympics athletes in the same meet. And our high school lifters, the ones who have been training here for years, are exactly who I want as spotters and loaders on meet day. If that is your kid, tell them to find me.
I started this gym in 2013 to build better athletes. This is the same job with a bigger team. If you know a family with an athlete who belongs on it, send them to mightyoakathletic.com/special-olympics or forward this post. That is the whole ask.
Be strong to be useful,
Coach Mike
