ACCEPTANCE AND FRIENDSHIP
Special Olympics program brings basketball to all
Special Olympics program brings basketball to all.
The all-too-familiar strains of the sports anthem “We Will Rock You” echoed through the Breton Education Centre gymnasium, Thursday morning, as the players made their way to centre court for tip-off.
A BEC player enthusiastically slapped his team’s logo on the floor and a packed gymnasium stomped along to the Queen classic as anticipation reached a crescendo for the start of the basketball game between the host Bears and the visiting Glace Bay Panthers.
By all accounts, it was about to be another exciting chapter in a classic rivalry between the two Cape Breton schools. But There was one notable difference.
The players on each side were a unique combination of people with and without intellectual disabilities who were on the same team for perhaps the first time as part of the Special Olympics Unified Sports program.
“It’s like their Coal Bowl,” said Rhianna MacDonald, one of the BEC students who has volunteered their time to teach basketball skills to the new players.
“Not a lot of them have ever had this experience before, so that’s what we are trying to give them.”
Besides BEC and Glace Bay, Sydney Academy, similar programs were also hosted by Riverview and Memorial high schools this year. And the results of weeks of lunchtime practices, one day a week, was put to the test during tournament play among the schools on Thursday.
It was a series of 20-minute contests where no scores were kept — and some rules were ignored — so that all players could simply revel in the joy of being part of the game, a team and their school.
“This is my very first time,” said Albert Chiasson, a Grade 7 student from New Waterford, prior to tip-off. “I’m not that good at basketball but it’s a bit of fun.”
Learning the fundamentals of the game, a planned pizza party and being on a team are among his favourite aspects of the program.
“I have not been on a team (before). I don’t know why I
didn’t join a team. I might join one in the future.”
Unified Sports is inspired by the principle that training together and playing together is a quick path to understanding, acceptance and friendship — breaking down the barriers that exist for people with intellectual disabilities — according to Donna White, who was part of the planning committee for the tournament.
“I was crying when it started,” said White, who teaches the disability supports and services program at NSCC Marconi Campus.
“Basketball — any sport, really — is a platform for development. I’ve had an opportunity to go around to all of the practices and it’s amazing
to hear some of the stories of friendships, the high-fives in the hallways that have happened.”
A similar tournament was hosted at Horton High School in Windsor last year. The games have since spread to schools across the province.
Mark Landry, sport program director with Special Olympics Nova Scotia, said each area has put its own unique take on the tournament but Thursday’s event in Cape Breton was by far the coolest.
“When we started this program, we were looking at giving the individuals with intellectual disabilities an opportunity to put on their school jersey, to be a part of a team and be part of the community,”
he said.
“That’s kind of what high school is about for everybody that goes to high school. It is now giving you an opportunity to feel school community.”
Thursday’s “Coal Bowl”-like atmosphere greatly added to that, he said.
Landry hopes that the program will also bridge an age gap in Special Olympics programming that sees participation drop off in the 14-20 years.
“We could easily see four or five days like this, especially in this region with people like Donna.”
For her part, White hopes a Play Unified basketball league can be started to further encourage play.
“This age category, there are not a lot of people involved,” she said. “Hopefully, if they have a positive experience in high school then the goal is they will keep them active whatever way we can.”