There’s a somewhat new school-sanctioned sport in Maine: unified basketball. The game brings together students with developmental disabilities and those in the general population.
The program comes out of Special Olympics, with a goal to create a more inclusive school sport. Team members and coaches say the program extends well beyond the basketball court.
On a recent Friday afternoon, the gym at the Sacopee Valley High School had all the elements of a typical basketball game. Cheering fans filled the stands, cheerleaders rallied and 10 players, five on each team, dribbled the basketball up and down the court, trying to score as many points as they can.
But this isn’t quite your typical basketball game. It’s co-ed, grades 8-12. And on the court, each team has three players with developmental disabilities. Two others players are from the general population, serving as the other athletes’ “partners.”
“Partners score 25 percent or less of the baskets,” says Sacopee Valley team coach Jaci Ritter.
But Ritter says on her team, partners haven’t scored a single point all season. They always pass the ball to their teammates.
That’s because in unified basketball, it’s less about the outcome of the game, says player Hannah Jordan, and more about something else.
“Just have fun and have a good time and don’t care about winning,” she says.
Jordan is a senior who has competed in Special Olympics for years. What makes unified basketball unique, says her mom, Chris Jordan, is the unusual camaraderie between teenage peers, some who happen to have developmental disabilities and some who don’t.
“This way, it’s into the public a little bit more,” she says. “And that’s a good thing. That’s what they need — they need that interaction.”
And there’s not always a lot of opportunity to interact at school. Junior Anya Mason says the prospect of joining the unified basketball team was intimidating at first.
“Because there’s a lot of people, and I’m not really a people person,” she says.
But it didn’t take long for Anya to feel comfortable.
“I actually can talk and actually play well with others,” she says.
When asked her favorite part of being on the team, Anya says, “I actually got to meet new people, that I can actually call a friend.”
“We go to school with these kids, and we don’t really know who they are. And we’ve become such great friends,” says Sophomore Issie Eldridge.
Issie says she joined the team because she wasn’t ready for the regular basketball season to be over. If anything, she says she likes unified basketball more because there’s less pressure.
It’s competitive, but the overarching goal is about forming lasting bonds.
“I see them in the hallway every day, and we say hi and give each other high fives,” Issie says. “It’s awesome.”
Special Olympics started its unified sports programs in the 1980s. Teams have played in Maine for the past several years, but on a more casual basis.
It was two years ago that Maine Special Olympics approached the Maine Principals’ Association to take unified basketball up a notch and sanction it as a school sport. The Maine Principals’ Association’s Mike Burnham says it just made sense.
“I don’t think we could have imagined how it was going to be accepted here in Maine,” he says.
Seventeen teams formed the first year. This year, says Ian Frank of Maine Special Olympics, it nearly doubled to 32.
“I’d like to double it again,” he says. “Our next thing we’re facing is — basketball is growing, but now the interest is there that schools want a new sport to be offered.”
Funding can be a barrier for new sports, but Maine Special Olympics offers up to two years of scholarship funding for schools to get programs off the ground.
This is Sacopee Valley’s first year to offer unified basketball. Ritter says its strength is that it brings students together in a way that’s not forced.
“It’s very natural,” she says. “I mean, kids like to get together, they like to compete and they like to find success. And in this case, we’re celebrating everyone’s success.”
During the game, nearly all the Special Olympic athletes on the Sacopee Valley team score a point, including Senior Zachary Sprague.
“We are doing so good,” Zachary says. “We are actually doing better.”
Sacopee Valley has two more games on Wednesday before competing in the playoffs. But players and coaches hope the high fives in the hallways will continue well beyond basketball season.
