Special Olympics, unified sports, and inclusion

[Guest guest]

Hi Gem,

I have been well connected in the past in S.O. Jan, being in New Haven

and practicing anywhere I could find a gymnastics center in the state,

became a " featured athlete " in the 1995 games in New Haven. She met Tim

Shriver over breakfast or lunch on a number of occasions. She also made

up a t-shirt which she gave to Eunice Kennedy Schriver when she met her

at the games.

I believe strongly in S.O., but not blindly. Gymnastics was a wonderful

sport. It is really a full body exercise and it gave Jan motivation,

achievement, and fitness that was awesome. Yes, she eventually had her

dad as coach and that worked well.

On the other hand, I was not a fan of everything they did. In NY, I

could be a coach, but in CT there was a requirement that the coach be a

licensed (or whatever) gymnastics teacher. Believe me, Jan did better

with her incompetent dad than she would have with any instructor who

didn't have time to focus on individuals and to work with them when

things weren't right.

When I started as a coach, they were just getting structure into the

sport with compulsories. I didn't like them at first, but did what had

to be done and eventually Jan and I got her to pretty much the top level

in the state. They didn't know about parent coaching (perhaps seeing

too many little league parents) so I was an " organization " like all the

other training programs .. the " Dill Family Program " . Yes I took on

other kids, but never very many. I learned to talk my way into

gymnastics centers for free. After a practice I'd get praise from the

regular Moms there about how well my athletes practiced.

I was not a fan of unified sports where an athlete is paired with a

non-handicapped athlete. In that model they train together and compete

together with some mix that gets them a combined score and medals. My

athletes didn't need someone who was a " super athlete " compared to

them. They learned to focus on what they needed to do to perform at

their individual level. There were some pretty rewarding stories when

some of my difficult athletes performed well above anything the coach

expected.

Then, all of our children (some now adults) are different. Unified

sports may work for a significant group of them. My team always worked

to be the best they could be with what the routines were. We were a

team (sometimes only two of us) and we all were working together.

Unified sports isn't inclusion. It is using outside people to help

teach and make the sport better for those with handicaps. If that seems

right for your child, go for it. It never seemed like a good thing for

my athletes.

Now, let's look at inclusive sports! One year in high school, I

summoned the extra energy to have Jan train with her school's gymnastics

team. This was a small school, but an elite team which did very well at

state competitions. The rules were simple. Jan was welcome so long as

her personal coach was there. It was a neat year. Jan was able to do

the vault at full competition height and working on lots of things. We

got some pointers, but mostly we stayed out of the way on equipment that

was quiet for the moment. We went to a few meets. There the coach had

arranged for Jan to perform on her best event (vault that year) at a

break in the competition. Jan was doing a " high school legal " straddle

vault and did it well. Of course the teams were doing much more

difficult vaults. In the entire year I saw only one high school girl do

the straddle vault.

Jan was at that point the best or one of the best S.O gymnasts in the

state. It was a great experience. The team got first or second at the

state meet for a school of our size. Janet got a school letter which

she wore proudly. Her medals got displayed in the school halls. If it

was really inclusive, she would never have been part of the team. If it

was really inclusive, her medals would never have been displayed.

Now .. inclusion in life. That is where it's at. Jan is there! Who

cares that she never had a " regular classroom " as her home room. There

is a lot more to life than that. SPED taught her well. She became a

top athlete .. in spite of her marginally competent coach because they

learned to work together.

Rick ... dad to 38 year old Jan who took a wimpy 2+ mile hike today.

p.s. I was eventually admitted to the local area's " hall of fame " with

my picture in a dark hall of their office.