Sports Medicine Brings Inclusive Care and Course Innovation to the 2026 Special Olympics
From June 20-26, more than 3,000 athletes visited the University of Minnesota as a part of the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games. True to form, sports medicine faculty and staff in the University of Minnesota Department of Family Medicine and Community Health came together to create something special for learners and athletes alike.
According to a recent study, about 85% of surveyed medical students report receiving inadequate training in caring for athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Two faculty members in the Department, Jennifer Oberstar, MD, FACSM, and Sports Medicine Program Director Rahul Kapur, MD, CAQSM, along with their colleagues, have worked hard to help close that gap — by providing world-class medical coverage and creating a first-of-its-kind educational curriculum for the next generation of sports medicine physicians.
Leadership on the sidelines: Dr. Oberstar’s vision
Dr. Jennifer Oberstar, faculty in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, and Dr. David Supik, faculty in the University of Minnesota Department of Orthopedic Surgery, served as co-medical directors in the lead up to the 2026 Special Olympics. They have worked for over a year collaborating with campus operations, fire and rescue, and national delegates to coordinate this massive effort.
Oberstar shares, “I am happy to serve in a sideline medical co-director role with Dr. Supik and with Dr. Kapur as head of the didactic course for medical students and residents. This will be the first Special Olympics to incorporate opportunities for learners. I will have the pleasure of coordinating care of athletes with the delegates traveling with national Special Olympics teams and collaborating with those involved in Special Olympics locally.”
Their approach has centered on an interprofessional team mindset. Logistics will involve treating athletes at the field of play as much as possible.
“Our team consists of OT, PT, ATCs and behavioral health professionals,” says Oberstar. “We are working with the CMO to provide access to sensory rooms for athletes and working with the Virginia Concussion Institute to work on a concussion protocol more closely geared towards athletes with intellectual disabilities.”
Every effort to protect athlete health shows up in their care and operational plans. As an example of this intentionality, opening ceremonies were held later in the day to reduce heat illness rates.
For Oberstar, the opportunity has afforded her many gratifying rewards. A big piece of that is the inclusive nature of the Games.
“What I value the most is providing medical care that addresses athlete concerns and assisting athletes to perform at their highest abilities,” Oberstar says. “This event offers an opportunity for inclusion regardless of medical conditions.”
Seeing so many health professionals sign up to contribute their expertise has been impressive and inspiring.
“Through strong volunteerism, the medical care provided includes clinicians and professionals across all systems and demographics throughout the state of Minnesota and the United States,” Oberstar adds.
Dr. Kapur kicks off a new didactics course
A remarkable feat rests on the fact that this is the first Special Olympics to fully incorporate structured training opportunities for medical students and residents. Family medicine and sports medicine physicians were at the heart of that. Dr. Kapur led the work to create a new didactics course for learners.
“All of the course content is unique to this event and this population of Special Olympics athletes,” Kapur says. “And so it is unlike any course that I have ever designed.”
So what makes the course different? Kapur emphasizes that it is how you approach and understand these athletes versus the nuts and bolts of how to do a knee exam, a shoulder exam or a hip exam.
“For example, one of our course speakers is an occupational therapist who talks about sensory rooms and approaching athletes with sensory needs,” Kapur says. “Another speaker, one of the leaders of the dental screening program for Special Olympics, has a daughter with intellectual and developmental disability. She's going to talk about how to interact with these patients and athletes.”
Interacting with the athletes focuses on key skills like making eye contact, listening deeply and doing away with any assumptions about an athlete’s capabilities.
Tailoring sports medicine instruction with a thoughtful, respect-based approach
Dr. Kapur wanted to move away from a traditional, rigid medical model in which treating disability sometimes gives rise to a charity mindset. That’s not at all the intent of the Department’s approach and philosophy. Rather, the idea is to nurture a social model that underscores autonomy, respect and celebrating talented independent athletes.
In that way, the new didactics course perfectly complements the core mission of the Department.
“Treating people with respect, understanding that they still make decisions for themselves and navigate their own care and that they’re independent and highly functional competitive athletes – the same way we would view other athletes – is a really important concept,” Kapur says.
A lasting legacy
Drs. Oberstar and Kapur believe strongly that learners and faculty will likely gain far more from working with these thousands of athletes and families compared to the sports medicine support they give.
This experience is likely to broaden the mindset of future sports medicine physicians, creating a lasting legacy of genuinely inclusive care. For their part, learners will carry these vital lessons into their future clinics long after the closing ceremonies end.
“After closing ceremonies end, I would hope that athletes feel they received the best care to have an opportunity to participate at their highest level of competition,” shares Oberstar. “I am certain that cooperation with other medical professionals will provide this opportunity for athletes. I hope that our learners have had the opportunity to participate in sideline athletic activities that would benefit them in their future careers and provide a perspective that movement and sport benefit all patients.”
The collaborative effort could not have happened without a great deal of support from colleagues and the Department itself.
“Our service line has provided protected time from the clinic to do this work, and we've been supported all along the way,” Kapur says. “We also have amazing colleagues both within and outside the Department locally and nationally who have flown in to help us be successful, so kudos to them as well.”