ELMA, N.Y. (WIVB) — Athletes who are part of their school’s unified bocce teams came together at Sahlen Sports Park in Elma for a bocce tournament on Wednesday.
“It combines everybody and it shows everybody that everybody’s equal and everybody deserves to have fun together,” said one athlete.
“It’s just part of the inclusion revolution, right? So, Special Olympics and the Unified Champion Schools Project has really brought students together with intellectual disabilities and without,” said Julia Posch, the associate director of program with Special Olympics in New York’s western region.
Eighteen schools from around Western New York participated in the tournament with over 270 athletes competing and playing bocce.
“Bocce is a great one because it involves the kids that have mobility issues, so there aren’t limitation. The kids with walkers, wheelchairs, they were able to build them ramps so they are all able to compete,” said Shannon Spino, a parent of an athlete.
Shannon and her husband Joe attended the event as their son Ethan is an athlete with the Iroquois Unified Sports Program, and they share with us how being apart of the program has impacted his life.
“It brought him together with friends, it’s given him an opportunity to play sports which we never really thought was going to be possible for him,” said Shannon. “We are so thankful for Unified.”
For more information about the Special Olympics of New York Western Region’s Unified Sports, visit their website here.
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Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here.
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