While we all know and love the classic sports offered at BHS, not many know that there is a more diverse and inclusive sports community running behind the scenes: Unified Sports

“Unified Sports makes me happy,” says Jessica Cyr, a BHS Special Education teachers and coach of Unified Sports. “It’s a club that allows kids with and without disabilities to join together and compete together.”

The program aims to create inclusion through a sports environment, being centered around the notion of “meaningful involvement,” ensuring that all athletes have equal opportunities to participate and enjoy the same experience. The program features sports like Basketball, Soccer, and Track, as well as being recognized by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC).

While Unified has no more games this year, their practices still field a respectable number of players.

A recent spring practice was made of up joking, conversing, and playing some basketball with a general good mood in the air. The group now enjoys post-season leisurely practices where players socialize and have a bit of laid-back fun with their friends and coaches Cyr and Rich Furman, before their regular schedule starts up again in the next school year.

“It’s an excellent opportunity to belong to a community, build memories, make friendships, and compete with other schools,” said Cyr.

Almost every high school in America has a Unified Sports Program, thanks to former US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. In 2013, Duncan made it a federal requirement for schools to provide equal opportunity in sports for kids with disabilities.

“You’ll never see a student section for Unified Sports today,” said BHS senior Paige Baker, a captain of the Unified Sports team. While there have been significant advancements in the Special Olympics and Unified Sports community, the program still lacks exposure.

“Coming from someone who is a captain, I think people don’t understand the benefits of it,” she added.

Throughout Unified’s early days, Harvard Researchers were tasked with studying the sport in order to gain approval for its implementation into public schools in 2013. Their findings were significant in that both players with and without disabilities appeared to become more social and outgoing. The same thing can be seen in the BHS Unified program.

“It’s about getting to meet new people, build relationships, going to the games and supporting each other,” said Sofia Bobko, another captain of the team.

“Unified is one of my favorite extracurriculars that I’m in, no matter what I’m doing, it’s a good time; everybody enjoys it,” added Thomas Sturges, a player on the team.

Unified is a place at BHS where labels disappear, and everyone is seen as equal, but there is also a widely held but incorrect misconception about Unified Sports, namely that it is “charity work” or “a nice thing to do.”

This is exactly what Beau Doherty, President of Unified Sports League of Connecticut, set out to change. Before the program was endorsed in Massachusetts in 1989, Unified wasn’t considered a ‘real sport,’ but Beau changed that by treating Unified players as true athletes in competition.

The “Hidden Athletic” doesn’t deserve to stay hidden; the success of Unified Sports program shouldn’t be measured by the numbers of trophies in a case or plaques on the wall, but the school culture itself.

“It’s a maturity point… learning that everyone is equal. At the end of the day, everyone’s just a student at school,” Baker reflected.

If we truly believe that everyone at BHS is “just a student”, then we can give Unified the support it has undoubtedly earned. I encourage you to reach out and see when Unified’s next event is, so we can show our BHS pride for all aspects of our school.

Editor’s Note: If students have questions or wish to support Unified Sports, they can contact Coach Jessica Cyr at [email protected].