Seymour Community School Corp. has had a lot of success providing athletic opportunities for special needs students.
From the Inclusion Revolution track meet for high school students to the Champions Together program for younger kids, there have been chances to compete and earn medals and plenty of smiles and high-fives to go around.
The students’ peer mentors also have helped out by bringing awareness to the programs, raising money for Special Olympics and working alongside and having a good time with the athletes.
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Now, there’s another opportunity for Seymour High School students to be involved.
This spring, the school is joining the Unified Sports program and offering a Unified track and field team.
Unified Sports is a join effort between the Indiana High School Athletic Association and Special Olympics Indiana to incorporate Unified Sports programs in IHSAA member schools. It recognizes and offers opportunities for students with and without disabilities to compete in an IHSAA-sanctioned activity.
“We do a lot. One thing that we’ve never really done is had one official Unified track team and a schedule. We believe that’s the next step,” said Dave Urbanski, assistant athletic director at Seymour High School.
A couple of callout meetings have been conducted for participants and parents to learn more about the program.
Today, teachers Amanda Jones and Jessica Floyd are attending a regional coaches clinic in Jennings County to learn even more to bring back and share. They are among several teachers at the school who will help lead the program.
Another callout meeting for students interested in participating — athletes and helpers — will be conducted Feb. 21 during Power Hour.
“We feel that that’s a great time to get those students together so they don’t show up on the first day of practice and they don’t know anybody,” Urbanski said.
Before participating in practices, athletes will have to have a physical and turn in the IHSAA physical form to have on file at the school. A doctor and a nurse practitioner will offer free physicals at the school a couple of times this month or students can pay for a physical at their family doctor’s office.
Athletes also have to turn in Owl Card information, including a risk of injury form, an emergency medical form, an extracurricular drug consent form, a student and parent consent and permission form and concussion/sudden cardiac arrest acknowledgement.
Once student-athletes have turned in all of the forms, they may pick up their Owl Card in the athletic office and give it to their coach before the first day of practice. The Owl Card also gives the students free admission to other Seymour High School sporting events.
All forms are due March 4, which is a day before the first Unified Sports track practice.
During the hourlong practices after school, they will work side by side with the team’s coaches and varsity track and field coaches Randy Fife and Spencer Sunbury and some of their athletes.
“You are going to be getting the full track experience,” Urbanski said. “Even though you might not have as many meets, you are just as much a Seymour athlete competing in Unified track as the people that are running in track. We have the full, awesome, 100 percent support from those track coaches to run the meets.”
Students will need to complete 10 supervised practices to qualify to compete in the first meet, which is April 5 at Columbus North High School. That will be against Columbus North, while the second meet April 28 at Columbus East High School will have participants from all Hoosier Hills Conference schools.
Track events include the 3,200-meter relay, 100-meter dash, 1,600-meter run, 400-meter relay, 400-meter dash, 800-meter run, 200-meter dash, 3,200-meter run and 1,600-meter relay. The field events are running long jump, discus and shot put. Athletes can do up to four events.
“If you look at all of these events, there’s something for everyone competition-wise,” Urbanski said.
Urbanski said if the team’s coaches want to send athletes to compete in sectional (May 19), regional (May 26) and state (June 2) meets, there will need to be at least six to do so.
The athletic department will provide transportation to and from the meets and cover the cost of uniforms and varsity letters.
Filling out an Owl Card and a physical form, competing in Unified Sports track and field and ending the season in good standing will result in the awarding of a varsity letter.
When there’s a full Unified Sports track and field schedule in the future, Urbanski said those students also will earn physical education credits.
“The incentive for them to do it should not be that PE credit, but it’s always a good incentive down the road,” he said. “When you’re committed to these type of things, you are being very athletic, and right now, deserving a PE credit is the least we can do.”
With the addition of Unified Sports track and field, that will replace the Inclusion Revolution meet. The Champions Together program at the elementary and middle school level, however, is continuing, and the high school’s National Honor Society members will keep raising money and awareness for the program.
Seymour High School also again will host the Special Olympics spring games for the southern region May 5.
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For information about the new Unified Sports track and field team at Seymour High School, email Amanda Jones at [email protected].
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