Even though it has been several weeks since the season ended, the memories of another successful Unified season persist in the minds of players like me. Unlike other student-athletes, here I do not remember the scores all that well, as for Unified Sports, a program run by Special Olympics to allow students with and without intellectual disabilities to participate in sports, the main goal is “social inclusion through… creating climates of acceptance.”
Of course, that is not the real goal here, as I feel the main goal of it is to have fun and learn to compete on a team, which, in my opinion, is the true value of sports, not trying to compete to win, with games not the end-all be-all, and merely a chance to show off what we learn in practice to the public.
Sophomore Chase Parsons shares his favorite memories of the season, such as “vibing on the court” with his teammates, and cheering on his team from the bench, though he says playing is “really, really, fun” and “actually pretty intense” at some points, with Parsons not having frustrations at the students with more severe intellectual disabilities, saying that he has gotten to know them better, even the most disabled still “have fun” and “enjoy things.”
Parsons and I also agreed that listening to music on the bus was fun, and we liked the novelty of visiting other schools. One thing I noticed was that we were not making fun of our more disabled students or even patronizing them. I know high school students today view anything as appropriate to joke about, but it seemed like we were all very respectful and appreciative of our Unified students, viewing them as members of the school community just like us.
Health and P.E. teacher and Unified head coach Jared Alvarez had his own thoughts, saying that his favorite memory was “the many fun practices,” though he liked “the community coming out and supporting the games.” When speaking about Unified sports as a whole, Alvarez mentioned how it allowed disabled students to “hang out likewise with their peers, hone in [their] athletic ability, and go out of their comfort zone and explore new places,” with the feeling of community support “unmatched” in his opinion.
Alvarez has been coaching Unified sports for three years now, and judging by these statements, he plans to do so in the future, which will hopefully be successful and filled with love and support from the Wilsonville community and outside.