Here at South, Unified Basketball is more than just a sport; it is a connection between peers and an opportunity to grow and learn. The Unified teams are built off special education players, on-court general education partners, both general and special education cheerleaders and fans in the stands. Coach Allison Smith promotes three pillars that make South a unified school: having a unified sports program, a youth activation committee and whole school engagement.
“Whole school engagement is the opportunity to have somebody be a leader,” Smith said. “Just like with any other sport, we’re promoting character. We are trying to build great students, being good sports and basically just giving everyone the same opportunity that anybody else has in the school.”
South’s team is in the red division, with 12 other schools, which is a big difference from the last couple of years, where they only had around five other teams to play.
“In the past, it’s kind of been me calling different schools and kind of questioning, ‘Hey, [are] you going to have a team this year?” Smith said. “I feel like the unified program itself has really kind
of developed.”
Just like any sport, Unified Basketball makes strong connections where students wouldn’t necessarily look to find them. Player Donte Ormond ’26 understands that Unified’s team is built on supporting and helping one another to build strong players and team bonds.
“They’re good people, they’re lovely,” Ormond said. “I like to hang out with them.”
Unified is full of its own quirks with its traditions and players. During halftime time they play the players’ favorite hype songs and they go onto the court and dance. Player Ian Krieger ’23 is known to break dance during each halftime show, but partner Jack Danielewicz ’26 has noticed Krieger’s current love for half-court shots.
“My favorite thing going right now is Ian just shooting from half-court,” Danielewicz said. “He’ll hit it about a quarter [of] the time, which is pretty impressive and [the] whole gym rallies around him when he’s shooting these shots from way downtown.”
Joining the Unified team also helps students grow mentally, learning from their new peers. They are able to gain a new perspective on different lifestyles and learn how to work with all types of people.
“It’s helped me overall just become a lot more caring and understanding because sometimes [an] athlete isn’t going to get [something right] the first time,” Danielewicz said. “It’s just persistence and willingness to eventually succeed and then enjoying that success that makes it kind of important.”
