The key to the successful development of a Unified Sports™ team is the PROPER SELECTION of team members (athletes and partners).  Here are the primary considerations: 

1)      Ability Grouping – Unified Sports™ teams work best when all team members have similar sports skills.  Partners with abilities that are far superior to other teammates will either control competition or accommodate others by not competing to their potential.  In both situations, the goals of interaction and teamwork are diminished and a true competitive experience is not achieved.  (See pages 6-8 on “Team Composition”.)  Special Olympics Sport Skills Assessments are very helpful in determining the ability levels of all participants, especially for newly formed teams.  However skill assessments need to be complemented with assessing team play.

2)      Age Grouping – All team members should be closely matched in age within three to five years for participants 21 and under and within ten to fifteen years for athletes 22 and over based on the significant risk within the sport.  For example, in the sport of football (soccer) an 8-year-old should not be competing against a 70-year-old athlete.  However in an individual sport such as golf a greater age disparity maybe is acceptable.

3)      Readiness – All teammates should possess the requisite skills to compete in the sport.  Not every athlete is ready to participate in Special Olympics Unified Sports™.  Participation in team sports requires an understanding of teamwork, team strategy, and rules as well as the requisite skills to compete successfully in that sport.  Special Olympics offers a variety of choices other than Unified Sports™ that provide functional sports skills training and offer meaningful competition experiences.

4)      Outreach – Participants can be new or existing Special Olympics athletes. Unified Sports™ is a particularly appealing program for schools and service agencies that stress inclusion and may resist traditional Special Olympics programs.  Additionally, Unified Sports™ is a program suited for higher ability athletes, who may have avoided Special Olympics because of a perceived stigma. Use Unified Sports™ to reach athletes not currently involved in Special Olympics.

WHERE TO RECRUIT TEAMMATES