Unified Basketball kicks off their season with their first practice on November 17th in the North Gym at Prairie High School.

Unified basketball has been a competitive sport for Prairie for over 10 years now. The competitiveness has not slowed down this year, with many players hoping to make it to state and in the end win a championship. Coach Donna leads the team as she is back for her 11th season as head coach. The expectation is nothing less than state, but at the same time, spreading as much kindness as possible. The team values the act of kindness as everyone should feel included. The team would like to get back to the same success as they had 3 years ago where they finished 2nd at state. Everyone believes they have the opportunity to do just that.

When asked about what she is looking forward to most about the season, “I’m definitely looking forward to getting to know all the new people joining the team this season,” team manager Sofie Ahlers said. Ahlers returns to the team for her 4th year as the team manager. A senior at Prairie, she has taken a big role for the Unified program, as well as taking her studies seriously. Ahlers shines light on all the new partners and athletes joining Unified this season, showing the impact that Unified and the community has on Prairie. It was only 2 years ago that Prairie won the National Unified Champion School banner from the Special Olympics, given to those who show commitment to inclusive school-wide programs and activities that bring everyone together.

For the beginning of the season, all sports focus on skills development above all else, for Unified this is no different. When asked about it, “Special Olympics has our coaching staff work on player development skills like dribbling, passing, shooting, but above all building friendships through social inclusion. ‘Teamwork makes the dream work!’,” Head Coach Donna said. A motto the team lives by, “Teamwork makes the dream work!” It spreads far from the court, the team is a family but they extend it to the whole Falcon Family! Showing light and spreading kindness to everyone, nothing but teamwork can make the dream or in this case, the school work. Parents, fans, players, coaches, they all feel the brightness of this team and how hard they work. They hope to show off their skills this year by bringing back a trophy for the whole Falcon Family to see.

While the Unified season is just kicking off, the first game is January 17th at Prairie High School. The team hopes as many people as possible can make it out to the game and cheer and support the team’s hard work.