Campus Recreation has joined forces with Special Olympics to begin a new division of recreational sports. NIRSA and Special Olympics partnered with a shared dedication to promoting social inclusion through sports training and competition experiences. Unified sports simply joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team.
Missouri State Campus Recreation is the first school in the state to adopt the programming model. The Rec Center is putting a focus on building relationships between Missouri State students (referred to as partners) and local Special Olympics athletes (referred to as athletes) of a similar age. Many of the participants actually fit both categories through the Bear POWER program on campus.
The Unified League functions similar to traditional intramural sports but with the addition of local Special Olympic athletes. Â Currently, basketball season is in progress and games are held on Wednesdays at 6:00pm in the Foster Recreation Center. The league is open for any student or Foster Rec Center member to join. Since this is the first unified sport and season, we are recruiting on a weekly basis. All you have to do is show up and be willing to play. Campus Rec will provide the uniform and put you on a team.
The goal is to continue growing this program so that Missouri State students have multiple opportunities to improve cultural competence, ethical leadership, and community engagement all through the lens of sports.