Inclusive Sports

Hey, what’s up, everyone? Here at Limestone, to be part of the Unified Physical Education class (Unified PE), you need to be at least a sophomore. Since I’m a junior, I have two years under my belt. In addition to Unified PE, I also coach basketball and soccer with Charlie, and I’ve also done track and bowling. I joined the class, honestly, because I wanted to do something fun. I didn’t expect the impact it would make on my life; I just thought it would be fun.

As the first year went on, I realized it was much more than a simple PE class. We went to the state basketball tournament, and it was a blast. I’ll never forget coaching the games, swimming with everyone afterward, and sheltering for a middle-of-the-night tornado warning. If I had never done Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools® programming, I wouldn’t have those amazing memories.

Grant and Charlie presenting the theme for the annual Respect campaign at an all school assembly.

In my future, I want to be in the trades. I see myself being a plumber or welder, but I’ve also talked with teachers and others about a career working with children with special needs.

This year, in addition to Unified PE, I also joined The Penguin Project in my community. This inclusive theater program pairs students with disabilities with an on-stage student mentor. We performed Aladdin. The relationships I developed with the play and the relationships from Unified PE have helped me have a more well-rounded social circle, and I feel like I can communicate with everyone. As a result, I believe these experiences will be helpful to me because I am able to successfully interact with lots of different people, including those with special needs.

The Unified program at my school reaches beyond PE class. We did a polar plunge and raised a few thousand dollars for Special Olympics, and we also have an all-school and community Easterseals fundraising campaign. The campaign is a big deal because our school and community come together and raise money. This year alone, our school raised over $130,000! We also have Club Unify, which meets during home room, and we had a special spirit day to celebrate Respect Week.

I like the competitive spirit of Unified athletics. When we compete, we cheer on everyone. My favorite part of competitions is seeing students without disabilities helping students with disabilities shine. For example, on our basketball team, we have a teammate who used to play on the varsity team. This year, he decided not to play traditional school basketball. When the Unified season came around, he decided to use his skills and be a buddy. While he could have outscored all of the players combined, he chose to facilitate moving the ball around the court so that other students could be set up to score. I think it meant a lot to him to see the others excel. It made the game so much more than being competitive.

Overall, my biggest life lesson through Unified is the understanding that you don’t need to treat people with disabilities differently, just treat them with kindness and respect. I stayed at home an extra year after COVID-19, and missing out on that much in-person school, I kind of drifted away from social things. Once I started high school, though, it was kind of a refresh button where I gained new friends and lost touch with some of the older ones. In Unified PE, there’s always someone to talk to and an opportunity to make friends. It means a lot to me when I see my Unified friends in the hallways; we dap up and check in with each other as good friends.