Unified Sports
Dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences, Unified Sports® teams up people with and without intellectual disabilities to train and compete together. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. Over 2,300 people with and without intellectual disabilities participate in Unified Sports in Hawaiʻi.
Special Olympics is a life-changing organization that helped me grow in many ways, and it all starts with the athletes. When I look at the athletes and see how happy they are despite their challenges and disabilities, it makes me think about how I complain about small problems in life that don’t even matter.
– Special Olympics Hawaiʻi Unified Partner
Special Olympics Hawaiʻi currently offers unified opportunities in the following sports:
- Bocce – One athlete and one unified partner on a doubles team.
- Bowling – Two athletes and two unified partners on a team.
- 5-a-side Soccer – Three athletes and two unified partners on the field.
- Softball – Five athletes and five unified partners on the field.
- Track and Field – Two athletes and Two unified partners on a relay team.
- Flag Football – Three athletes and two unified partners on the field. **Oahu High and Middle Schools only.
Check out the National Play Unified Website
The Unified Coach
The most important person to the success of a Unified Sports® team is the coach.
An effective and successful coach is not simply one who helps a team win. Equally important is his or her contribution to teaching, improving and applying sports skills, building team spirit, exhibiting sportsmanship on and off the field, and helping to instill positive values in all members of the team. The coach also plays the critical role of carefully selecting athletes who are similar in age and ability. The coach must ensure that unified partners are not of the caliber where they will dominate play. The coach also must ensure that team rules, including attendance at practice, apply to all players.
For more information on Unified Sports, email Emerald at unify@sohawaii.org
