BENNETT'S MINUTES: Unified basketball game big hit with players, fans

Wednesday, January 25, 2017
North Putnam senior Kaelynn Abner presents medals to her team after a recent Unified basketball game with Monrovia.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

MONROVIA — During halftime of North Putnam’s recent boys’ basketball game at Monrovia, a different set of Cougars and Bulldogs battled on the court than had done so in the first 16 minutes of the game.

And they were a hit.

Both schools had teams of intellectually disabled students, with one traditional student on the court with them at the same time (called “partners”) to help with the flow of play.

There were referees, although very few violations were called. And nobody cared.

Many shots were attempted during the 12-minute contest and several found their way into the basket — much to the delight of the roaring crowd, which cheered whenever either team scored.

Hence, the term “Unified game” applied to such events, which also take place in track and field.

North Putnam senior Kaelynn Abner coordinated the game with student leaders from Monrovia, and thought everything went well.

“They love it,” she said. “I think it’s so important for them to put on a North Putnam jersey, just like the varsity and JV teams, with the cheerleaders cheering them on. It’s so enjoyable to watch.”

The players, along with the student helpers, took an activity bus to the game and were anxious for their big night to start.

North Putnam makes a shot against Monrovia during a recent Unified basketball game.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett

“They were all really excited on the way here,” Abner said. “When it was over, they were excited again. They got medals last year after the game when we did it, and they were all asking if they got medals again.

“Last year, they all wore their medals to school the next day,” she added. “That was really cool.”

Abner, who will attend the College of the Cumberlands this fall, also benefits from the activity.

“Something so little that we take for granted means so much to them,” she said. “It really makes me think how important little things are.”

Abner and North Putnam hosted a similar game last year at their school, and she has enjoyed working with the members of her team and from Monrovia.

“It just went great,” she said.

Abner does not do this by herself, as fellow schoolmates Alex Kelsey, Bella Zarate, Aiden Baker, Aaron Livesey, Lauren Freije and Jake Powell served as “partners” and with overall supervision duties.

Abner noted that principal Jason Chew has also been very helpful with the project.

“My favorite thing about this is that both teams cheer for each other,” she said. “You don’t see that in the varsity games. I think that gets lost in what sports are supposed to be about. Monrovia cheered for us and we cheered for them, and games like this help to unify our schools.”

Unified Sports was first developed by Special Olympics as a means of providing a quality experience of sports training and competition in an inclusive environment that allows friendships to form, according to the Indiana High School Athletic Association.

The IHSAA notes that the vision of this joint IHSAA/Special Olympics Indiana sports project is “to allow high school students with and without intellectual disabilities to collectively represent their high school by participating together on a Unified Sports team.”

It was a truly special night, and anyone with a pulse who was there had to be positively affected and moved by the nature of the evening’s events.

Young people get a lot of flak these days for bad things they do. These are kids who deserve our praise and thanks for their work.

North Putnam Unified basketball team members talk about the game against Monrovia recently.
Banner Graphic/Joey Bennett
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