Youth Unified Sports®:Young people with and without intellectual

disability in school-based sports teams

Martha Jo BraycichDirector, Organizational Development, Foundations & Public Institutions

Special Olympics Aims

• Create positive public attitudes toward people with intellectual disabilities and

• Integrate people with intellectual disabilities in society

… through sports.

Special Olympics Youth Unified Sports®: Definition

An internationally tested program that combines an equal numbers of youths with intellectual disability(athletes) and youths without intellectual disability(partners), aged 12-25, on teams for regular training and competition

Special Olympics Europe Eurasia Youth Unified Sports: Goals

• Sports as a platform for the integration and personal development of young people with intellectual disability in local communities,

• While giving educators and coaches cost-effective and easy to implement tools to facilitate inclusion,

• And building alliances of various community partners to link special and mainstream environments.

Youth Unified Sports: Framework

• Mainstream and special schools; local clubs

• Classroom-based educational component (SO Get Into It)

• Ability and age grouping

• Consistent training and competition plan

• Meaningful exchanges to reflect on experience

Impact Study on Youth Unified Football Pilot Project 2005/2006

• In cooperation with University of Massachusetts Boston/Special Olympics Global Collaborating Center • Interviews with 735 athletes and partners, aged 15-17, five countries*

• Assess impact on promoting greater understanding and acceptance and facilitating social relationships, as well as sports experience

*Austria, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia

Partner Gains in Understanding of People with Intellectual Disabilities

52%

30%

18%

Changed A Lot

Changed A Little

Stayed the Same

Special Olympics Europe/Eurasia Youth Unified Sports today

• 26,000 participants in 1200 schools in 40 countries in Europe/Eurasia (2010) including:

• CEE/CIS: 11,000 participants in 500 schools in 11countries

• Mainly Football and Basketball

• Main partners: EU, Vodafone Foundation, UEFA, FIBA Europe; Mattel Children’s Foundation

Youth Unified Impact Study 2010 conducted by the University Of Ulster/Belfast

• Evaluate the strengths of Unified Sports as a model for the community integration of young people with intellectual disability

• Document the barriers and facilitators to community integration generally and within particular cultural and social contexts

Youth Unified Impact Study 2010 conducted by the University Of Ulster/Belfast

• Five countries: Serbia, Poland, Ukraine, Germany and Hungary

• Football and Basketball

• Interviews with 275 participants

• Five universities as partners in the participating countries

Main findings

• Postive personal development in terms of communication and socialization skills, confidence and self esteem.

• For athletes the development of social networks and connections in the community are largely attributable to participation in Unified Sports.

• Athletes experience how it feels to be valued for their abilities rather than devalued through perceptions of disability.

• Athlete participation has led to employment and educational opportunities.

Youth Unified: challenges and tasks

• Break through traditional ways of thinking

• Gender imbalance among particpants

• Participant retention and transition

• Program expansion

• Attract more institutional partners

One athlete summed up his experience on a Unified team, saying: “We all can play in the same schoolyard and live together in the same world.”

Thank You!

mbraycich@specialolympics.org

www.specialolympics-eu.org

http://www.specialolympicsee.eu/ee_vodaphone-supports-special-olympics.aspx