New School Year Brings Expanded Opportunities to Play Unified
340 Schools and Nearly 10,000 Students Choose to Include
Albany, NY – With a new school year underway, Special Olympics New York is proud to be working with more schools than ever before – 340 schools throughout the state, from elementary to college – through its Unified Sports programming.
Special Olympics Unified Sports is one of the fastest growing sports movements in the world. As part of this program, students with and without disabilities compete on the same teams. When combined with inclusive youth leadership and whole school engagement, participating students transform their schools into more inclusive communities.
This year, 340 schools have registered nearly 5,000 Unified Athletes and nearly 5,000 Unified Partners to compete in basketball and bowling. As a result of the program’s increasing popularity among students, many schools are also adding bocce as a sport, along with other inclusive activities.
Special Olympics Unified Sports have seen the following growth over the past year:
- 10% overall increase in participating schools
- 25% increase in schools offering multiple Unified Sports
- 43 Unified Champion Schools fundraising at Special Olympics NY Polar Plunge events
“The Unified generation has taken inclusion to its highest level,” said Stacey Hengsterman, president and CEO of Special Olympics NY. “We are proud of our youth leaders and grateful to the coaches, administrators, and school communities supporting them throughout the state. If your school doesn’t have this, it should!”
For new schools interested in joining the Unified movement, please contact Special Olympics NY at this link.
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