Photo by Jenn Moffat: Derby High School Unified Sports had a great match against Wolcott.
By Mekhi Wright ’23
This is the second year of Unified Sports at DHS and it is already turning out to be a fantastic experience for the students and the faculty involved. Unified sports is a sport that lets people with and without intellectual disabilities be on the same team. It also allows students with disabilities who can’t be on a student athletic team to be part of one.
DHS brought Unified Sports into the school to allow all students to participate in various sports. It gives students with different skill levels the chance to practice and play competitive sports with other schools around the state. Currently, the program involves twenty students. The faculty that run the program are physical education teacher Carlin Ali and special education teacher Kailee Hyde.
Hyde had this to say about a typical practice with Unified Sports: “A typical practice depends on the season we are in and the sport we are practicing. We usually introduce the game/sport we are playing and then break the students into teams. They then practice the skills of that sport while working as a team to the best of everyone’s ability.” Hyde’s favorite memory of Unified Sports “would have to be our first away game at Ansonia High School. They had the gym packed with students and faculty and the energy was amazing. We ended up winning that game by one basket.”
To get involved, Ali says, “Students sign up on Final Forms just like all other sports. We practice Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during advisory in the gym.”
On May 1 Matthew Wint, and Louis Aponte were honored at the Aqua Turf in Southington as Derby High School’s Unified Athlete and Partner of the Year.
If you like playing a variety of sports and want to help out with our Unified Sports program, go to the final forms and apply, or if you see either Ms. Hyde or Ms. Ali, ask them about the final form and sign up for Unified Sports!
The Raider Press 