PHOTOS BY JOHN FRYMAN / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
SOFTBALL THROW … Kyle Woods (above), a fourth-grader at Evergreen Elementary School, competed in the softball throw in the Unified Sports Special Olympics, which took place Friday, May 1 at Bryan High School’s Golden Bear Stadium.
REACHING THE FINISH LINE … Teirstyn Fulton (left) and Warin Schultz (right) of Bryan Elementary School reach the finish line in the 100-meter dash in the Unified Sports Special Olympics held at Bryan High School’s Golden Bear Stadium.
By: John Fryman
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
john@thevillagereporter.com
Students from Bryan and Evergreen Schools gathered to compete in the Unified Sports Special Olympics, which took place at Golden Bear Stadium on Friday, May 1.
The event, which is designed for those students with special needs, features a variety of sports including kickball, soccer, tennis, pickleball, football throwing, softball throwing and running the 50- and 100-meter dash.
According to Teresa Noethen, an intervention specialist with Bryan City Schools, the Unified Sports Special Olympics is separate from the regular Special Olympics because it involves having a partner.
“The special needs student is considered the athlete, and their peer is their partner,” Noethen said.
There were 60 students from kindergarten through 10th grade representing both schools, along with 60 students from Bryan High School who came out and served as student partners for the Unified Sports Special Olympics.
Cheering on those Unified Sports participants were students from Bryan Elementary School who braved the chilly weather to support them.
This is the third year in which Bryan hosted the Unified Sports Special Olympics, but this year they invited Evergreen, which had just started the program.
In the first two years, Bryan held the Unified Sports Special Olympics and competed against themselves.
“I went to a meeting, and they spoke about Unified Sports and the whole idea is to have inclusion and to have the students with special needs feel included in their schools and have that camaraderie,” Noethen said. “So, we started it here because I think we need that climate changed.”
This year, the Unified Sports Special Olympics did more sport-type activities because when Bryan had partnered with the Special Olympics of Williams County, there were more track events involved.
Noethen had sent out a survey to the students asking them which events they were interested in, such as pickleball, kickball and soccer.
She also mentioned they had added track events with the cooperation of the Williams County Board of Developmental Disabilities Special Olympics as well as the throwing events.
Michelle Paulson, an elementary intervention specialist with Evergreen Local Schools, has been involved with Unified Sports for several years, though this is Evergreen’s first year in the program.
Paulson met Noethen via a Zoom call with the Special Olympics of Ohio after being involved in a similar capacity in Michigan.
“This is an awesome thing, and I would love to see it get bigger and bigger every year,” Paulson said.
“I would love to see our other partners in the educational system get involved with this. Like I said before, the students win.”
