Unified basketball unites community at LHS

A sea of students, teachers and parents packed the bleachers of Lexington High School’s gymnasium last week and brought on roaring cheers as players from Lexington and other visiting Middlesex County schools shot baskets in a fun showdown. 

Unified basketball’s annual jamboree, sponsored by Special Olympics Massachusetts, was in most ways like any other sports game: an opening ceremony with the national anthem, a referee overseeing the rules of the game, and team players decked out in athletic uniforms dribbling up and down the court. 

But the Nov. 14 game was the final of the fall season for a team of students with and without intellectual disabilities who play together towards the same goals – inclusivity and fun. 

“It’s not about winning or losing,” said Thomas Brincklow, the coach of Lexington’s Unified basketball team. “It’s about them being part of a team where students with and without disabilities are working together.”

“Unified” sports, a worldwide program, bring together athletes with and without disabilities to train and compete on the same team as a way to promote social inclusion through sports training and competition. In Massachusetts, Unified basketball was brought to the state’s high schools in a partnership between the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools. 

By breaking down existing barriers that often prevent students with disabilities from participating in their school sports teams, Unified basketball has become a font of inclusivity, regardless of developmental ability. 

“If we want to be who we say we are, then there are programs we need to do better by all the students in our school,” said Naomi Martin, the athletic director at LHS. “Unified basketball has been a fabulous step in Lexington to be more inclusive and to allow every student who walks in the door a place in our athletic program.”

Lexington’s Unified basketball team is a combination of general education students and students from the high school’s Intensive Learning Program (ILP) and the LABBB Educational Collaborative. The team had a roster of 16 players this fall, who play against other Unified teams in the Middlesex League, including Waltham, Stoneham, Reading, Melrose and Bedford. Players with disabilities are referred to as “athletes,” while their teammates without disabilities are “partners.” In a given game, athletes and partners play on the court together by dribbling and passing the ball and cooperating in defense. But partners are not allowed to shoot in order to give athletes more opportunity to score. 

“It’s definitely the best experience I’ve ever had sports-wise,” said Will O’Brien, one of the team’s athletes and a senior at LHS. “Normally you have to try out for a varsity sport, but with Unified, you just have to sign up for the team. It’s not like you will or won’t make the team, you’ll always get picked,” said O’Brien, who has been on the team since the spring of his freshmen year. “It was the first basketball team that I really thought I would actually be able to play.” 

“Students with disabilities are often overlooked in the school community and that’s something I wanted to be a part of changing,” said Jake Conrad, a partner and senior at LHS who has been on the team since his sophomore year.

Brincklow, a special education teacher within the LABBB program, said Lexington embraced the Unified basketball model in 2019, one of the first participating schools in Massachusetts. Now, involvement in Unified sports has spread across the state, with the number of Unified basketball teams jumping to well over 150 schools. 

Special Olympics Unified sports programming is in more than 8,300 schools across the United States, with a goal of being in 10,000 schools by 2024. A 2021-22 survey showed a dramatic rise in Unified sports participation nationwide, with 47,909 combined participants in almost 20 states, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.  

Despite initial apprehensions over the safety of students with different physical and mental needs, Martin said Unified basketball’s addition to the athletic scene at LHS has advanced positive social experiences for students with disabilities. Like LHS’ previous collaboration with Special Olympics for its “school day games,” an all-day track meet, Unified basketball is a “bigger and better” way for students with disabilities to feel accepted and part of the whole school community, Martin said.

“We took the small, one-day experience of school day games and transformed it into having an athletic season just like everybody else,” Martin said. “Unified basketball is the perfect combination of everything. They’ve quickly become the most favorite team on campus, and I think that’s because we all see a little bit of ourselves in that team.”

The increase in attendance and community support was best evidenced on the team’s senior night game. “The LHS football team was there cheering on students, and usually it is the other way around,” Brincklow said. 

Many students with disabilities on the Unified basketball team had never been part of a team before, Brincklow said. But now, students are building friendships, learning to be good teammates and feeling included in the community. 

“I love making friends and having fun. It’s fun having friends out there so we can play together,” O’Brien said. 

“I have had kids come up to me on my Unified team and say out of the blue, Mr. Brincklow, I’ve never been on a team before. Thank you. It’s pretty cool hearing that,” Brincklow said.

While the fall season has officially come to an end, the Unified basketball team will pick up their practices and games for the spring season during April and May. Martin said she is looking to expand Unified sports into the winter season to keep the Unified athletes engaged during the basketball off-season.