Penn-Trafford High School will begin its first year of Unified Track and Field, an inclusive spring sport that links special education students, referred to as “athletes,” and general education students, known as “partners.”

     The new opportunity has prospective athletes excited.

     “I’ll get to do what sports were truly meant to do— unite people. To bring people together instead of pushing them apart with competitiveness,” said junior Julius Steele.

     Steele is a first-year athlete on P-T’s bocce team, the school’s other Unified Sport, and plans on doing long jump and run during the Unified Track and Field season.

     “I did [regular] track last year and I was pretty successful at that, so I figured that maybe I could just run with all my friends and that would be pretty fun,” Steele said. 

     During meets, each student must compete in one running and one field event.

     Field events include shot put, running long jump and mini javelin. Track events include two relays and three short-distance events. Playoffs are determined on an overall team score of these events, rather than typical individual scores.

     Special education teacher Miranda Frye, coach of Unified Track and Field and Bocce, has received over 30 applications for the team and multiple teachers reaching out to help coach.

     “Track and field is the other Unified Champion Sports in schools, and we wanted to be able to expand it to give athletes more opportunity throughout the year,” Frye said.

     According to the Pennsylvania Special Olympics, Unified Track’s main priority is to focus on inclusion.

     “This is not a mentorship program, but rather one where equality is emphasized and labels are removed and people are valued for their unique qualities and strengths,” the Special Olympics website states.

     The team will practice every Tuesday and Thursday with the regular track team.

     “Hopefully they’ll be able to teach us some things since we’re new to it. It’ll be nice because everyone will get more interaction with other people than they’re even realizing,” Frye said.

     Ultimately, whether the new team wins its meets or not, success will be determined by the experiences of the athletes involved.

     “It gives [athletes] interactions they’re not used to having, and it also just allows them to have something physical and productive and positive to do outside of school,” Frye said. “They can be able to come here, exercise, talk to people and make new friendships they didn’t have.”

Annabelle Aquino, Managing Editor

Penn-Trafford