Team sports bring people together.
Special Olympics Unified Sports® teams do that, too and much more.About 1.
2 million people worldwide take 👄 part in Unified Sports, breaking down stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities in a really fun way.
ESPN has served as 👄 the Global Presenting Sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports since 2013, supporting the growth and expansion of this program that 👄 empowers individuals with and without intellectual disabilities to engage through the power of sports.
Promoting Social Inclusion Through Sport
Special Olympics is 👄 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.
It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to 👄 friendship and understanding.
In Unified Sports, teams are made up of people of similar age and ability.
That makes practices more fun 👄 and games more challenging and exciting for all.
Having sport in common is just one more way that preconceptions and false 👄 ideas are swept away.U.S.
States Embracing Unified Sports
Young people with disabilities do not often get a chance to play on their 👄 school sports teams.More and more U.S.
states are adopting the Unified Sports approach that Special Olympics pioneered.
Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools® 👄 programming is in more than 8,300 schools across the United States, with a goal of being in 10,000 schools by 👄 2024.
In more than 8,300 Unified Champion Schools across the country, Special Olympics has trained and mobilized youth leaders and educators 👄 to create more inclusive schools by including students with ID in all aspects of school life.
Social inclusion is promoted by 👄 bringing together young people with and without ID on sports teams (Special Olympics Unified Sports®), through inclusive student clubs, and 👄 by fostering youth leadership.As many as 19.
5 million young people are taking part in these experiences, which are increasing acceptance 👄 of people of all abilities while simultaneously reducing stigma and bullying.
Unified with Refugees
Special Olympics Unified with Refugees brings the transformative 👄 power of sport and other programming to the most marginalized and amplifies the movement's calls for social inclusion.
Special Olympics partner 👄 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimates that over 79 million people worldwide have been forced by violence 👄 and other conditions to leave their homes.
Refugees and other people on the move often live on the fringes of the 👄 societies to which they flee, due to lack of acceptance and poor access to resources.
Learn more about Special Olympics Unified 👄 with Refugees.
Mission: Inclusion
As part of the Special Olympics-Lions Clubs International "Mission: Inclusion" partnership, the LCI youth network-Leos-have become a strong 👄 global partner in expanding and implementing Unified Sports together with Special Olympics.
The Leos have helped both start, and sustain, Unified 👄 Sports in a number of nations worldwide, and serve as one of the movement's strongest youth leadership networks in bringing 👄 inclusive programming to communities across the world.
From Zimbabwe to Brazil and from California to India, the Leos continue to amplify 👄 the voice of athletes, and embody the creed: Play Unified.Live Unified.
Major sports organization, league and event support to Play Unified
Many 👄 high-profile, professional sports organizations and events have also showcased Unified Sports as a vehicle to show the power of inclusive 👄 sports! This support includes:
National Basketball Association (NBA)
Major League Soccer (MLS)
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
National Collegiate Athletic Association, D-III
ESPN's X 👄 Games Aspen
National Federation of High Schools (NFHS)
National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA)
Unified Sports PartnersESPN | U.S.
Office of Special Education Programs at 👄 the U.S.
Department of Education (OSEP) | Kim Samuel and the Samuel Family Foundation | Perfect Sense | Y&R | Burson-Marsteller 👄 | The Coca-Cola Company | WWE | NBA | MLS Works | Uniqlo | Seiko | NIRSA | NFHS | 👄 EuroLeague | UNICEF | UEFA | FIFA Football for Hope | King Baudouin Foundation | Lion's Club International
