Unified tournament coincides with IHSA, promotes inclusivity
Mar. 9—CHAMPAIGN — State Farm Center isn't the only place on the University of Illinois campus playing host to a high school basketball tournament this weekend.
Over at the Activities and Recreation Center, eight teams are facing off Friday and today for the state championship in Special Olympics Unified Basketball.
But it isn't all about the competition.
"If we don't win, that's OK. We're here to have fun, win or lose," said Joseph Menard, a member of the Illinois Special Olympics Youth Activation Committee.
Alongside Tyler Wilson, his unified partner, Menard uses his role on the committee to come up with ideas for how to get more schools in the Unified Sports program and expand the mission of inclusivity.
Each "unified pair" brings a student with a disability and one without a disability together to bond and train together — kind of a buddy system.
In Wilson and Menard's case, this was just putting a label on a friendship that goes way back.
"We just kind of grew up together, starting from sixth grade to now," Wilson said.
As they started attending Bradley Bourbonnais Community High School, the two joined Best Buddies International together as well.
"Becoming unified partners was the next step for us, just to really show and display our friendship to everybody else and why they should be involved," Wilson said.
Earlier this week, they took to the stage as hosts for a talent show through Best Buddies, and this weekend they take to the court together to defend the Bradley-Bourbonnais Boilermakers' state title.
Special Olympics of Illinois President and CEO Pete Beale-DelVecchio said Unified Sports is the fastest growing part of Special Olympics nationwide.
Basketball is a big one, but the Unified Sports program also includes football, track and more, bringing together people with and without disabilities to play competitively.
"It gets intense, but we're all about good sportsmanship," Beale-DelVecchio said.
It's true: as they stepped onto the court for tip-off, players from different teams shook hands and introduced themselves to each other.
Competition is competition, but as clear winners emerged in different games, opposing teams would start to make space for the players who hadn't gotten much time on the court to attempt a few baskets.
"It's the camaraderie that comes and learning from each other and how to be with each other — it's all part of the experience in addition just to the joy of sport," Beale-DelVecchio said.
Special Olympics of Illinois partners with the Illinois High School Association to schedule basketball tournaments on the same weekend on the UI campus, so IHSA Assistant Executive Director Dan Le came over for the unified tournament.
He said he enjoys serving as a liaison between the groups and encouraging that inclusivity.
"It's just one big basketball event here in March," Le said. "We claim that our tournament is America's original March Madness, so we're happy to have unified just be a part of that."
