Project Unifiy

We spent Saturday at Oregon State University's Dixon Recreation Center watching the 2019 Oregon Unified Basketball Tournament. Project Unify is a part of Special Olympics.

Two of my kids play on our high school's Unified Team–one is an “athlete” and the other is a “partner.” The athletes are neurodiverse students–kids with developmental or intellectual disabilities. Some of them have physical differences, as well. The partners are their neurotypical classmates.

These kids take a class in which they play sports together all year–soccer in the fall, basketball in the winter, and softball and golf in the spring. Then they compete against other high schools, sometimes traveling several hours to away games. Some of the partners have been on the team for two or more years–they love it that much. It allows the jocks to play sports in which they don't normally get to compete, and it lets kids who otherwise would never even consider sports to play on a team and compete at the league or even state level.

Our high school has an amazing culture around Project Unify–thanks almost exclusively to Josh, the incredible special education teacher who brought the program to our school. Unified teams get big send-offs just like the state-bound varsity teams. The Project Unify class had to close registration early this year because too many kids tried to sign up for it. And last time we had a staff vs Unified game, we drew more spectators than the varsity team.

I love attending Unified games. I'm not really into sports, so going to a high school basketball game is just embarrassing–I'm constantly asking someone to explain the arcane rules to me. Seriously, it's like Bring your Muggle to Quidditch Day.

But at a Unified game, no one cares if you clap for the wrong team, or you don't remember if we're “home” or “guest,” or if you don't understand why that guy just got three free-throws, even though the final buzzer had already sounded. (Really, the last game yesterday ended 28-27 with a foul on a three-point attempt.**)

You just get to cheer on some amazing kids who are playing their hearts out. You get to watch a kid with leg-braces and a helmet make two points–after the opposing team passes him the rebound and gives him another chance to score. And you get to see your own team win the Sportsmanship award because they are the most generous and helpful kids of all. They took Bronze, too, but as Josh said, after bringing a stack of pizzas to the bus for the four hour ride home, “You won the most important award.” And they all knew exactly what he was talking about.

That's Project Unify.

** “foul on a three-point attempt”: I hope I got the verbiage right.