NC State Unified Sports Team Takes First Place

The Unified Sports League provides an opportunity for NC State Students to play alongside Special Olympics Athletes to compete in different sports. Recently, six different unified teams were invited from around North and South Carolina to travel to Charlotte in order to play in the Unified Flag Football Carolinas Classic. The tournament was played at the Carolina Panthers practice facility. The NC State Unified team beat out Winston-Salem State University in the finals to win the tournament.

Nathan Williams, one of the NC State student players, joined the unified team expecting to have fun, then realized that the experience was more than that. “I was really nervous starting out but then I really bonded with the players throughout the season and made a lot of friends. I really enjoyed playing with them and getting to see them throughout the tournament grow.” Nathan enjoyed the experience of playing alongside of the Special Olympics athletes. “It was a good experience to learn from people that were different from you”

Brandon Smith, the NC State student who organizes the events, thinks that NC State’s unified team provides a great opportunity for the Special Olympics athlete as well. “It gives them another outlet to be able to go out and express themselves, to have fun and just play sports.” Brandon also thinks that NC State Students may underestimate challenge that unified sports can provide. “What a lot of people probably wouldn’t anticipate is the competition of it. It is fun and you are out there to have a good time but you are still trying to win and it’s a very competitive game. A lot of these athletes are competitive. They want to win. Being able to go to these tournaments and compete along NC State students is something they really love.”

Unified sports provide both fun and competition, but most importantly it provides a rewarding experience for both Special Olympics athletes as well as NC State Students. For Nathan, this came in the form of new relationships. “I feel like we have formed a friendship over the course of the season. It was a really cool experience to meet new people.”