Sports

When It Comes to Unified Sports, Everybody Wins

Programs pairs student-athletes with and without disabilities together on sports teams to build teamwork, camaraderie.

Unified Sports, a partnership between the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference and Special Olympics Connecticut, pairs student-athletes with and without disabilities together on the same team, where they compete in sporting events such as basketball, volleyball, soccer and even track and field.

The intent is to encourage camaraderie, partnership skills and a friendship between the two sets of athletes, who might not normally interact with one another, while the disabled athletes also receive welcomed physical activity and the sense of being part of a team.

The events are non-competitive, so “everybody wins,” but you didn’t need to tell that to the dozens and dozens of student-athletes who competed in a recent Unified Sports basketball tournament held at Manchester High School.

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Because they knew the benefits of Unified Sports participation first hand.

“This is my second year coaching it, and I’ve found it to be the most exciting thing I’ve done as far as a school activity,” said Gregg Oberlander, a special education teacher at Manchester High School who coaches the high school’s Unified Sports basketball team. “As a special ed teacher, I would come here, work with the kids, write (Individualized Education Programs), and then go home. Well now I come here, I work with the kids, I write IEPs and now I get to play basketball with them.”

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Counting MHS, 11 teams competed in last Friday’s basketball tournament at the high school, including teams from nearby Vernon and Tolland.

Most of the student-athletes without disabilities who were partners on the teams and essentially volunteers said they did so because of the fulfilling experience it offers them.

“It’s definitely brought me out of my comfort zone,” said Alyssa Pappas, a sophomore at Southington High School and member of her school’s unified basketball team who took part in the tournament at MHS. “Kids that now have special needs, I find myself going to see them more in school.”

While the disabled athletes say they enjoy the competition, exercise and opportunity to play sports.

“I just learn how to play basketball and just do it good and win!” said Ime Udoh, a special needs student who plays on Manchester High’s unified team. 

“I was just talking with a mother whose concerned that her son’s leaving and won’t be involved in this any longer,” said Manchester High School Athletic Director Lindsey Boutilier. “She was saying that he was not interested in athletics or sports or anything until this program took off at Manchester High School, and since then he’s going to hockey games, he’s playing basketball in the parking lot by himself, and I think that’s a perfect example of what it can do for the kids.”

Louis J. Pear, assistant director of the Connecticut Association of Schools who also oversees the Unified Sports program, said about 95 high schools in Connecticut now have a Unified Sports program, and that 22 schools have added the program to their curriculum this year alone. Pear said the program brings students who might not normally interact with each other together, which is a good thing.

“I use to be a principal,” said Louis J. Pear, assistant director of the Connecticut Association of Schools who also oversees the Unified Sports program. “And sometimes a special ed child would sit by himself or herself in the cafeteria, and we would try to find a buddy and things like that to make it work. Well, with the Unified Sports program, it’s an automatic thing. When these kids go to school, they sit with their athlete partners that they play basketball with at lunch. So they go to eat lunch, they walk in the hallways, they say ‘hello’ to them.”

For complete guidelines on how to start a Unified Sports program in your school, contact:

Louis J. Pear, Unified Sports Director
CT Interscholastic Athletic Conference
30 Reality Drive, Cheshire, CT 06410
Phone: (203) 250-1111 ex. 3904
Fax: (203) 250-1345
Email: lpear@casciac.org
Website: www.casciac.org/unified


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