Unified Sports... Choose To Include

Photo Courtesy of National Federation of State High School Associations

When the opportunity arose for Robert Hale to join the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference Unified Sports staff, he jumped at the opportunity and says he has had a wonderful experience being involved with this program.

Throughout the past year, Hale led Connecticut's Unified Sports program during the coronavirus pandemic and worked to ensure that his athletes were able to stay active during this challenging time.

Hale has been a member of the CIAC Unified Sports staff since 2015 and was promoted as the Director of Unified Sports in 2019. One reason Hale decided to join the Unified Sports staff is because of his history in education and with the program itself.

Before becoming the Director of Unified Sports, Hale served as a principal for over 20 years at Westbrook High School, which is located in Westbrook, Connecticut, and he was ready to retire. What motivated Hale to take this position was the connection he and his old school had with Unified Sports, a program he always enjoyed.

Unified Sports is a registered program of the Special Olympics. This program combines equal numbers of athletes with and without intellectual disabilities on sports teams for training and competition. Some of the sports the athletes play are soccer, basketball, volleyball, bowling, and track and field. Those sports are played in the middle schools and high schools that participate, but the types of programs in the elementary schools are different. In elementary school programs, students engage in non-competitive activates that are designed to increase the student's motor development and focus on social inclusion.

As Hale has been around the program for many years, the experiences he has had left a lasting impact on him.

“We see some, some kids with some really significant handicaps and the joy that’s on their faces, and their determination to participate as fully as they can really make you realize that any problem you have that day pales in comparison,” Hale said.

Hale has been present for many special moments, but there is one he will always cherish.

“I do remember one,” Hale said. “One time, we got a note from a parent after our teams played an exhibition game at Mohegan Sun at the State Championship. And we got a note from this dad that said it was such a thrill for him and his family to watch his daughter play at Mohegan Sun because they are a very sports-oriented family, and they never thought they would see her play on that kind of stage. When she scored the first basket, and the announcer called out her name. It was just a joyful day for their whole family.”

The Unified Sports program is influential around the nation and has left a lasting impact on the coaches, partners, and athletes that participate. There are over 7,600 schools throughout the United States that participate in Unified Sports. In Connecticut, there about 350 schools, including high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools that has a Unified Sports program.

Today nearly 95% of Connecticut’s public high schools offer Unified Sports programs, but that was not always the case. The Connecticut Unified Sports program did not become part of Connecticut Public Schools until 1992, but since then, schools throughout Connecticut have chosen to celebrate all abilities.

Just this year, in 2020, The Special Olympics nationally recognized 155 schools throughout the country as National Banner Unified Sports Champion Schools. Of those 155 schools, 31 of them are located in Connecticut, making Connecticut the state who had the most schools receive this honor. A Unified Sports program earns this honor by fostering an inclusive environment where students of all abilities can come together and compete on one team.

Use this interactive map to take a trip around Connecticut and learn which schools are Unified Sports Champions.

Unified Sports programs have been thriving throughout Connecticut because of the benefits the program has on the athletes and their partners.

“The physical activity in the sport is a prime component,” Hale said. “It’s the inclusion and the realization that everybody has a value in this world.”

Just like Hale, Angela Rinaldi, a Norwalk Public Schools Special Education teacher, who has had many of her students participate in Unified Sports, can’t express enough how important the program is for her students.

“It is the only place where all students are working towards the same goal, and where differences are set aside for the good of the team.”

Rinaldi feels that the most important benefit for her students is the feeling of belonging regardless of their differences. Unified Sports programs around the nation promote inclusion through sport. Rinaldi, who comes from a school district where inclusion is the only way, believes in the power of inclusion.

"I think we should all be one," Rinaldi said. "There should not be a separation of special education students and regular education because everyone learns differently. I think it is important to include all in a classroom, Unified Sports, and anywhere we go. Everyone is different in this world, some people have a little more difficulty than others, but you wouldn't know because there are other difficulties in other individuals, and you just can't see them. So, we are all together."

The Special Olympics Connecticut and Connecticut's Unified Sports programs came together during the coronavirus pandemic and ensured its athletes would be able to compete. As schools closed throughout the state in March 2020, Unified Sports events were cancelled.

With the coronavirus affecting the world as we know it, both the Special Olympics Connecticut and the Connecticut Unified Sports programs had to adapt to this new world filled with social distancing and masks.

In response to the pandemic, Special Olympics Connecticut hosted its first virtual games over the summer and invited Unified Sports athletes to take part as well. With people spending a lot of time inside their home, the team at the Special Olympics Connecticut wanted to come up with ways to keep everyone connected.

“Our sports team got together,” Debbie Horne, Director of Communications for the Special Olympics Connecticut, said. “And they said, okay, what are some activities you don’t need a lot of equipment for and people can safely do in their backyard. So, we came up with things like softball throw, 50-meter dash, cycling, soccer drills, and soccer kicks.”

To record scores, the athletes and their families would practice for some time, record their results, and send pictures and video along with their submission of them completing their sports activity. Many of those submission videos, of athletes competing, were posted by volunteers on the official Special Olympics Connecticut social media pages. The programs volunteers were still involved and even wrote comments on the athletes’ videos on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Here is a timeline of all the Special Olympics Connecticut events during the pandemic:

As fall came around, Special Olympics started their hybrid model. They put on some in-person events like football, golf, croquet, corn hole, and a softball hitting challenge. Due to the pandemic, those events had limited participants. Everyone present, athletes, coaches, and volunteers had to follow guidelines. If you attended one of the events, you would see people wearing masks and socially distancing themselves from others.

"I think people were excited to, you know, see each other and reconnect a little even though you had to distance, you could be in the same venue with them," Horne said. " I think they really enjoyed that. The parents and the caretakers really appreciate what we're doing virtually. I think we're all feeling a little bit disconnected, and like, things aren't the norm, but we want to keep safe and healthy at the same time. We want to keep offering and doing what we do, and motivating athletes, helping them stay healthy, and helping them pursue their goals, and work to the best of their ability."

On top of that, the Special Olympics Connecticut put on virtual zoom events for its athletes as well. Some of those events included movie trivia, music trivia, dance with a DJ, and a virtual Halloween party as well. The virtual and in-person events the Special Olympics Connecticut has hosted have become an outlet for the athletes and caretakers throughout this pandemic.

Many athletes competed and participated in those events. When schools throughout the state began school in the fall, Hale was motivated to have Unified Sports programs running in the fall.

"Well, it will definitely be running," Hale said. "In exactly what shape? We don't know quite yet. We have plans to run our regular program. Should conditions change, we're ready to move into that traditional way of doing business. But right now, schools are still allowed to have athletic practices and events. So, I know some of our schools are planning to have their own Interscholastic games."

Early in September, schools like Wolcott High School and Oxford High School planned a kickball game for its athletes because they thought kickball was a more socially distant game for their athletes to play, but at the same time enjoy. Also, the Unified Sports program encouraged its schools to participate in sports like bocce and even take on a walking/running challenge. In that challenge, the program had a goal to reach 2,020 miles walked/ran across the state by its athletes. The pandemic did not stop the athletes from staying active and competing.

Here are some of the posts athletes shared of them completing this challenge:

With the pandemic still effecting school districts throughout the state, and schools closing, all in-person events were canceled for the winter sports season. To continue the Unified Sports program throughout the winter, with the help of the Special Olympics Connecticut, athletes can participate in virtual events.

This event is called the 2020 Unified Sports Holiday Classic. The virtual events athletes can participate in are contemporary and hip-hop dance competitions, family bowling, powerlifting, and a fitness challenge.

While the coronavirus pandemic is still affecting the nation, the Connecticut Unified Sports program and the Special Olympics Connecticut is doing everything in its power to ensure that their athletes can continue to participate, are supported, and encouraged through this challenging time.