‘Bringing People Together’: A look into Unified Teams

“Team sports bringing people together.” This is the mission of Unified Teams. It’s not about the wins or losses; it’s about the community and joy for participants. 

Unified Teams, a program by Kansas Special Olympics (KSSO), is a team of high school students with special needs. The East team competes in three different sports — basketball, bocce ball and soccer. 

The East team is student-run by members of  SHARE with five current chairs in charge of the program. 

In addition to weekly practices during seminar on Thursdays, the team already had their first tournament and will have four tournaments in total with three additional matches.  

The chairs are tasked with reserving gym time, taking online courses to get certified as coaches, driving volunteers to tournaments and setting up drills such as shooting baskets and dribbling through cones.  However, all of the work is worth the impact they make according to head chair senior Ben Walburn.  

“It’s just a blast,” Walburn said.  “[The kids] love it more than anything.”

Not only are the special education students given the opportunity to play with friends in the program, but the volunteers and parents are also involved.  Alumni Jack Melvin’s dad is known for buying lunch for everyone at the tournaments to express his gratitude.  

“The parents are always so grateful for us to be out there working with them,” Walburn said.  

It isn’t just the parents that can see the results of excitement and the work the team puts in together.  Co-Share Coordinator, Sheryl Kaplan, enjoys supporting the team at the games.

“I get very excited when our athletes make a basket or shoot a goal because they get so excited,” Kaplan said. “They usually look at their parents in the stands and get all excited to come over and high five everyone in the stands or do a dance.”

According to Junior and Co-Chair Jack Hays, the team never remembers their games based on the wins or losses.  They remember their games based on how much fun they have.  

“It is just a time to have fun,” Hays said. “Everyone works as a team and even if you miss a shot or aren’t playing your best, you are still having fun with the people around you.”

One of their favorite ways to have fun while playing is jamming out to Kidzbop during practices.  The energetic atmosphere keeps the players coming back — once students graduate they are able to continue playing until they are 21.  Most of the students in the special education program love the experience so much they choose to come back and continue playing. After graduating, Jack Melvin has continued to be a regular on the court because of how much he loves the team. 

Each member of the team sports a Lancer jersey during their games and as a reward they get to keep them along with the memories of their time on the team once they graduate.  

“They are friends,” Kaplan said.  “They see each other in the hall and they are high fiving each other down the hall just like they would with their typical learning peers. It’s great and the athletes love seeing their peers.  There is no difference. They are all out on the court and they are all athletes.