Special Olympics Alberta Celebrates Organization Milestone in Reaching 1.2 Million Participants in Unified Sports

Special Olympics Alberta is celebrating a significant milestone in Special Olympics’ 50-year history.

Thanks to the generous support of ESPN, the Department of Education, Kim Samuel and the Samuel Family Foundation, Lions Club International, and many others, Special Olympics surpassed its goal of registering 1 million Unified Sports participants, by registering 1.2 million participants, including athletes (individuals with intellectual disabilities) and teammates (individuals without intellectual disabilities) in Special Olympics Unified Sports®.

In 2013, ESPN became the Global Presenting Sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports, and committed to help provide support and resources on the road to Special Olympics’ goal of doubling the number of participants in inclusive sports. At that time just over 500,000 global participants participated in Unified Sports. Thanks to recent growth and awareness, now over 600,000 Special Olympics athletes and over 650,000 of their teammates have registered to participate in Unified Sports globally. Special Olympics Alberta currently has 84 participants registered in participating in Unified Sports.

Special Olympics Alberta partnered with Alberta Schools’ Athletics Association to offer basketball as a Unified Sports program and is looking to grow and include more sports in the coming years.

Dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences, Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team and playing field. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.

"We are incredibly proud to be part of the unified movement across the world," said Johnny Byrne, Special Olympics Alberta's president and CEO.

"Unified Sports creates equality through sport that transcends the playing field giving people with an intellectual disability an opportunity to be accepted and dignified in their community. Through the shared experience of sports, teammates with and without intellectual disabilities come together and form meaningful friendship. The momentum of Unified Sports continues to grow in Alberta and we see more an more schools jump on board."

Officially launched in 1989, Special Olympics Unified Sports has gained momentum over the last 27 years due in large part to multiple partners and supporters who have facilitated the growth of the program, such as ESPN, the Department of Education, Kim Samuel and the Samuel Family Foundation and Lions Club International. In addition to the support from ESPN and others, Special Olympics Alberta would like to thank Alberta Schools’ Athletics Association, Alberta Sport Connection and Government of Canada.

Beau Doherty, president of Special Olympics Connecticut, known to many as the first person who introduced Unified Sports to the Special Olympics Movement, comments on the expansion and growth of playing unified.

“When I look back to that one afternoon in 1984 talking with Mrs. Shriver (Special Olympics Founder) about taking a chance and bringing people without disabilities onto the same playing field as our athletes – I never thought in my lifetime, I would see us reach over a million people playing Unified Sports. I’m literally blown away by the scale and success of our Unified Sports programming around the world. True social inclusion – the connections that people make through participating in Unified Sports - is the end game. The day that I saw students in high school lettering on a Unified Sports team about 10 years ago made me feel that we were definitely moving down the path of true social inclusion.”

To further expand Unified Sports, in September 2013, Special Olympics announced a global initiative with ESPN, the Global Presenting Sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports®, to inspire sports fans everywhere to come out and play their favorite sports while also making a difference in their community.

For the last three years ESPN has invested more than $3 million and strategically used its multi-platform media assets to expand Unified Sports globally. Such support has included capacity-building Unified Sports grants in more than 14 domestic and global markets including Connecticut, North Carolina, Mexico and India, as well as supporting key research, conferences, activations and other necessary resources to support the global expansion of Special Olympics Unified Sports. As part of its continued support of Unified Sports, ESPN will invest in Special Olympics’ goal of building Unified Sports programming and resources in 10,000 schools by the year 2020.

“Reaching 1.2 million participants in Unified Sports is such a significant milestone for our organization,” said Mary Davis, Chief Executive Officer, Special Olympics.

“In the 40 years I have been involved in our Movement, the emergence of Unified Sports has been a key indicator of our success in breaking down the barriers that exist for people with intellectual disabilities. Being a part of a team and competing at your highest level while also building lasting friendships is something everyone wants to be part of, and we are offering that opportunity to everyone. We are so lucky to have such amazing supporters including ESPN, Kim Samuel, the Department of Education and Lions Club International who have really catapulted us into making this milestone possible. Thanks to them, we are seeing more and more partners who want to join us and build Unified Sports and help inspire change on the playing field.”

As part of the celebration of surpassing the 1 million participant milestone, Special Olympics Alberta is encouraging all who have been impacted by Unified Sports to share their story and thank those who have helped make the program possible. Fans and supporters are encouraged to use the hashtag #PlayUnified and share their stories from across the world. To read some of the inspiring stories from athletes and partners playing unified, visit here.

Be sure you check out Unified Sports Basketball Jamboree at University of Calgary’s Kinesiology on June 10 where 45 students from local high schools will be celebrating and playing unified!