Special Olympics launched Unified Sports in 1988 to bring students who have intellectual and developmental disabilities together with those who don't.
Those differences melt away when they're together on the basketball or bocce court or at the bowling alley, according to Special Olympics New York president and CEO Stacey Hengsterman.
"They're just teammates," Hengsterman said.
Hengsterman said the words "athletes" and "partners" are also appropriate for Unified Sports, which are played at 450 schools throughout New York, including 60 in the Capital District.
"They're Special Olympics athletes, and for people without intellectual disabilities, we say partners," said Hengsterman, who has a son with Down syndrome.
The New York Public High School Athletic Association sponsors Unified basketball, bocce, bowling and cheer. Participating schools also hold Unified physical education classes. Special Olympics New York began its partnership with NYPHSAA in 2013.
Special Olympics has recognized Guilderland High School as a Unified Champion School for its commitment to inclusion.
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"You have students that are coming together from all different demographic backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, skill backgrounds," Guilderland physical education teacher Allison Relyea said. "You have just a really incredible mix of people who see that inclusion matters and they want to be a part of something really positive."
Other Unified Champion Schools in the Capital Region include: Saratoga Springs, Columbia, Shaker, Niskayuna, Scotia-Glenville, Amsterdam, Broadalbin-Perth, Glens Falls, Hoosick Falls, Shenendehowa, Mohonasen, Queensbury, Bethlehem and Lake George.
Former Guilderland High pitcher Cole Miller, now a redshirt sophomore on the Elon University baseball team, joined as a partner on Guilderland's Unified bocce and bowling teams.
Miller has a cousin with severe autism, which inspired Miller to attend Unified physical education classes before taking part in bocce in the fall and bowling during the winter.
Miller has a vivid memory of the mother of an athlete starting to cry when her son told her how much he liked being on the bocce team.
"It gave me a different perspective on life," Miller said. "This is their outlet in a sense to be in a quote-unquote normal environment. Seeing the impact it had on the athletes, the joy they would have from competing, and playing alongside their friends and everybody, and seeing the effect it had on their parents, seeing their child do things that frankly they may not have ever thought was possible."
Miller said Unified Sports helped bring students with disabilities into the larger school population. He forged friendships with a number of athletes who also built relationships with Miller's friends who didn't even participate in the Unified program.
"It bridges the gap," Miller said. "We're all human beings, we're all people."
Guilderland has Unified programs from kindergarten through 12th grade. Farnsworth Middle School is in its third year and Westmere Elementary School recently began one. Guilderland High started Unified basketball in 2014 and later added bocce, bowling and cheer.
"It goes far beyond just what happens in our PE classes and what happens in sport," Relyea said. "Our hallways, our cafeterias, our general clubs and things we do at the high school are better because of what started in 2014 and has grown into multiple programs for all students."
She said partner students have to be recommended by a teacher for physical education class. For the varsity sports, there's an interest meeting, followed by practice and games, like any other sport. Though no one is cut, bowling has become so popular that students are picked by lottery.
Guilderland's Unified physical education classes have 40 students, split evenly into athletes and partners for one-on-one attention. A recent class focused on getting better at catching and throwing. They also learned concepts of offense and defense in handball.
Relyea said she has partner students so moved by their Unified experience that they choose to study special education in college.
"They say, 'I want to go into special education because I feel as if I have a positive impact, and I've been able to help grow and foster students that have a variety of different needs and differences and challenges'," she said. "We see genuine connections from partners. They want to be there for all of of the right reasons. They're not building a resume, trying to make it look good on a college application."
Some Unified athletes go on to compete at the New York Special Olympics Fall and Summer Games. Miller competed as a partner in bocce at the fall games in Queensbury.
He was amazed to see the competitiveness of the athletes there.
"It's like 8 o'clock in the morning on Saturday and I'd never played it before, so I'm like, 'What am I getting into?" Miller said. "There's other athletes that aren't in our game standing right off our court, looking, and they're, like, screaming at us. I'm like, 'This is awesome.' … Everyone wants to win."
Special Olympics gives a three-year stipend to new schools that join Unified Sports to help offset the cost of starting a team.
"Honestly, once they do it, they forget all about the money," Hengsterman said. "It really changes the culture of the school. It makes such a difference in so many different areas and everyone just loves it."
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