Unified basketball launched its sixth season at Maine high schools on Tuesday, with eight new programs joining a popular sport that has mushroomed from 18 teams in 2015 to nearly 60 this winter.
And one of the new teams got in on the fun in a hurry. At Deering High, the first-year Unified team from South Portland won 64-62 on a basket with just over a second remaining.
South Portland Coach Adam Perron was coach of the Portland/Deering Unified team four years ago.
“I just thought it’s just a great event for the community,” he said, “a great event for the kids and I wanted to try to bring it to South Portland’s community and I knew it would be a fantastic thing.”
The Maine Principals’ Association holds Unified basketball in conjunction with Special Olympics Maine, and teams pair students with developmental disabilities with traditional students. The season runs from January to early March.
“The biggest surprise to me is the impact (Unified basketball) has on the entire school,” said Mike Bisson, the MPA’s assistant executive director.
Bisson was the athletic director at Hampden Academy when that school introduced the sport and would like to see Unified spread further into Aroostook County and some of the Down East parts of Maine.
“It makes an impact on the whole school culture,” Bisson said. “Students learn compassion and empathy for some other students they may not really know, about some of the challenges those students face every day.”
Winthrop Athletic Director Joel Stoneton believes strongly in the sport, enough so that it is treated as every other varsity and non-varsity offering at the school. Winthrop has had a Unified program for seven years – before it was an official MPA offering.
“Basketball courts and playing fields aren’t just an extension of the classroom – they are the classroom,” Stoneton said. “And this is no different. Right from the get-go, from Day 1, when we started practices you could tell it would be something special.”
Madison Coach Josh Bishop said he is aware of at least two instances – one at Carrabec High School and one at Madison – in which members of the Unified basketball teams have then gone on to try out for their school’s varsity programs the following winter.
“I think one of the coolest parts of this is the confidence these kids develop,” Bishop said. “Having some of our kids feel confident enough to go try out for a varsity or (junior varsity) team, to have that kind of courage, that only comes from what they’ve been able to experience with the Unified team.
“For them to feel comfortable enough with themselves to go do that, that’s not always easy in this day and age.”
Madison beat Westbrook in the Unified state championship game last March. The Bulldogs, however, won’t get the chance to repeat.
The MPA announced two weeks ago that it will no longer hold a state championship game or playoff rounds for Unified basketball. Instead, a greater focus will be placed on season-ending festivals to be held at locations around the state.
“Personally, I agree with the decision 100 percent,” Bishop said. “At first, some of our kids were a little bummed, but we said last year before the playoffs even began that we were honestly just happy to be part of something. This gives us the chance to draw out the season another month and play just as many games as we did last year.”
On the South Portland Unified team, Perron’s wife, Kim, is his assistant coach. Their son, Anthony, is one of South Portland’s student partners who assist the players on the court.
Adam Perron said helping athletes grow more comfortable in a social setting is a vital benefit to Unified sports. For some, just being on the court without assistance from an adult signals significant progress.
“That’s the biggest thing, to (reach) those goals, not necessarily basketball goals but just being out there and having a good time,” Perron said.
Playoffs or not this season, Unified basketball remains strong.
“These kids feel like they are part of the school, and if we didn’t have a Unified team it wouldn’t always be easy for them to feel that way,” Bishop said.
Added Stoneton: “If I’m having a bad day, Unified changes all that. I always encourage any administrators, people in the community, anybody who hasn’t seen it to come out and see a game. It’s very hard to put to words the emotions you catch from it.”
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