Children, when left to their own devices, can experience great joy in the play aspect of sport. Pure play, just for the fun of it, is truly wonderful to watch. All coaches try to recreate fun in their programs. This element of play drives participants to be great and develop meaningful relationships with others; however, sometimes coaches try to perfect and hone athletes into machine-like teams that perform at a high level. This is beautiful to watch, but there is a risk: The joy we experience from childlike play can be lost if we are not aware of how focused we become on outcome rather than process. One way to reconnect and rejuvenate coaches and communities is to become involved with Special Olympics Unified Sports, one of the fastest growing arenas for high school students in the nation.

Special Olympics Unified Sports brings people with and without intellectual disabilities together on the same team to compete. The students with disabilities and those without form a bond as strong as any found on championship teams. Students who are part of the school population, but are often forgotten or invisible to the rest of the student body, are given an opportunity to be the stars of the high school athletics team, playing alongside other student athletes who normally get the majority of the athletic praise.

The Three Divisions of Unified Sports:

There are three distinct variations of Unified Sports:

1. The Recreational model
2. The Player Development Model, and
3. The Competitive Model

Each of these programs address different community needs and all have positive outcomes for all stakeholders.

The Recreational Model focuses on getting schools and students involved in a more intramural setting. Such activities may take place during school lunch periods and involve sports or activities that may not be part of the normal after school athletic program. Starting a kickball team with mainstream and special education students that competes against other school made teams would be an example.  

The Player Development Model is gaining popularity in some areas of the nation as it encourages general education high school students to serve as mentors to their special education teammates. This type of competition generally occurs with other after school athletic programs. An example might be a Coed Unified Basketball season in which three or more schools create a sports season, set specific practice times, and home and away competitions against neighboring schools. This type of Unified program brings many benefits to the community as mainstream students learn what it is like to work with special education students. Students also have the opportunity to gain a greater appreciation for all those participating, in addition to being able to develop leadership skills. For the special education students, they gain an avenue to connect with the general student population, becoming a more connected part of the school community.

 The Competitive Model focuses on creating teams of general education and special education students with similar abilities to compete against other schools. An example may be creating a school bowling team in which coaches have full tryouts of both mainstream and special education students. This model is almost like another level of current sports; however, special education students have a more equitable footing to make the team. An example may be a bowling team in which all students tryout, practice, and compete against other schools throughout a season.

Impact of Unified Sports on Schools:

Unified Sports follows the same rules and regulations as prescribed by the NFHS; however, some rules may be adapted to promote meaningful participation. For example, in a basketball league, general education mentors may only make six points per quarter. Those that participate in wheelchairs have a more liberal interpretation of traveling, and the time of a game may be four five-minute running-clock quarters. Even with these adaptations, Unified players, general and special education students, push themselves to their potential and show a true love of the game that rivals that of any professional athlete playing in front of a packed arena. At the end of the contest there are fatigued smiles from heroes in sweat-drenched jerseys that remind us all of the pure joy sport has to offer not just for the participants but for everyone lucky enough to share the experience.

More importantly than just giving students with disabilities a chance to be on a team, Unified Sport invites an important part of the student body to become part of their school identity. Unified Sport allows the general education students and community to be vested in a portion of the student body often overlooked; our special education population. Unified Sport gives an underserved group of students the opportunity for social growth, companionship, and a sense of ownership and pride that would be hard to get from strictly academic classes. Every student should have the opportunity to feel they are a significant part of the student body. Through Unified Sport, more students are feeling like a part of their high school campus.

Final Thoughts:

If salary negotiations, strike talks, and players who have forgotten why they started playing sports in the first place is making you a bit cynical of sport, or if you want to find the essence and beauty that drew you into sport as a child, stop by your local school house gymnasium and peek in on a Unified game or take the first steps to start a program at your school. There is plenty of support ranging from local Special Olympics offices to the nfhslearn.com website online class. There is plenty of effort, hustle, and smiles to go around, even for the most hardened, cynical of sports fans, and it will give athletes and coaches rejuvenation to remember the fun in sport.