PROGRESSIVE PROGRAMS
fied teams qualify for the state tournament as in other sports. For example, in unified soccer, four of 12 teams (33 percent) made the tournament this season. The finals for soccer and basketball are on the same date and at the same location as the varsity finals. There is a unified state track meet in the central part of the state, which is separate from the varsity meet. In terms of the partners, SONH advocates that all athletes compete equally on the court to work as a team, so we did not implement any competitive restrictions on partners. However, many coaches are concerned that the partners could dominate play and they use them more in a facilitator role to pass, rebound, and keep athletes on task with verbal cues. I believe that most coaches in the state are not totally comfortable letting the partner players score. With rules in place, we began the 201112 school year with four unified soccer teams. This past fall, we expanded to 12 soccer teams. Basketball grew from 16 teams last year to 24 this year. The track program has stayed stable with eight teams, and the NHIAA is adding volleyball this spring.
Along with an increase in participation, the quality of play and level of competition have greatly improved in just two years. STARTING A TEAM
Here at Londonderry, we decided to make a unified basketball team our first offering. Our school already has an interactive (unified) physical education program that pairs disabled students with partners. Ann MacLean, a physical education instructor who has taught interactive PE since its inception at Londonderry and a longtime field hockey coach, quickly agreed to coach our unified basketball team. Other schools in the state found coaches through special educators who were interested in the position, by contacting local Special Olympics coaches, and by recruiting coaches of other sports. Like any NHIAA coach, unified coaches needed to be CPR and first-aid certified,
“The unified athletes’ interactions and camaraderie with the general student population has taken many of them out of their sheltered peer groups and made them an accepted part of the school community. And for the partners, the impact is equally life-altering.”
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take the NFHS “Fundamentals of Coaching” course, attend a preseason sport-specific coaches’ meeting to review the policies and procedures, and take an online NFHS concussion awareness course.
From there, we easily obtained our principal’s endorsement, and I then met with our special education director. She believed there would be great interest among the
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