Sports bring people together. Special Olympics Unified Sports® does this as well and much more. Half a million people worldwide take part in Unified Sports, breaking down stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities in a fun way.
Below is an article written by a pair of Special Olympics Unified Athletes from Rhode Island, Allie Gould and Jessie Oliveira, on their positive experience with Special Olympics.
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Special Olympics Unified Sports is a program that brings together those with and without intellectual disabilities on a sports team to not only compete, but to make everlasting friendships. That is how we met! Our names are Allie and Jessie and we live in Rhode Island.
We attend school together, but are in different grades so we never had any classes together and are part of different friend groups. Then one day about three years ago, we headed onto the court for Unified volleyball practice. We did some warm-up drills and in no time the entire team began to bond and laugh with each other.
We did not become the close friends we are now until the following Unified basketball season. We always joke with each other and encourage one another on the court. We soon began hanging out outside of sports when we discovered that we live only a few houses from each other. Thus began the journey of our friendship!
We both agree that Special Olympics has changed of our lives for the better. We’ve learned life lessons and we are positive that we will take all of our experiences through our lives to overcome challenges and to produce more ideas that will help make the world a more unified place to live. We are Unified players. We are best friends. We will change the world!
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