Have you ever wanted to join a club that would help you brighten someone’s day? If so, that opportunity is here for you, as Rowan University offers a Unified Sports Club.
Rowan Unified Sports is a competitive sports club in which Rowan students and Special Olympics athletes meet to play on the same team for soccer in the fall and basketball in the spring. When asked about their favorite sport to play in the club, there was a clear winner.
“Basketball definitely, I like shooting three-pointers,” said Jason MacEwen, a unified athlete.
“Totally, definitely basketball. As you can tell in the game today, I was all over the place. I had the moxie. I was everywhere,” said Chris Beck, a unified athlete.
The Rowan Unified Sports Club was founded in 2012 by former Rowan student Gary Baker. The club was created to include people from all walks of life.
“Inclusion, because we really try to integrate all of the athletes and their own. Students who are partners and it’s really all just about playing basketball and soccer and having fun and nice promoting inclusion in sports,” said Amelia Biermann, president of the Rowan Unified Sports Club.
People join specific clubs because they have an emotional connection to them. Typically, the main reason why people join Rowan Unified Sports is because they have someone in their life who is affected by intellectual disabilities.
“My mom’s friends, a couple of the kids have Autism and Down Syndrome. They’re great kids, and it’s really great to be around them and work with them. And it honestly played a part in me wanting to help out here,” said Zack Quieti, a member of the Unified Sports Club.
The club offers a plethora of benefits, with the number one being the opportunity to meet new people and create friendships that will last a lifetime.
“Unified sports has affected my life in many ways. I made so many good friends, it’s not even funny. The memories over the years have been amazing. Kept with memories of different teams, soccer, and basketball, it’s been so much fun,” Beck said.
Not only does the club provide friendships and connections, but it makes them better people.
“Creating new friendships and being better on and off the court,” MacEwen said.
For members of the club, the best feeling in the world is putting smiles on people’s faces. The memories of the unified athletes having a good time and having fun will be remembered forever.
A specific moment that Biermann remembers is when a shy girl created a moment for everyone to remember.
“Last basketball season there was a new athlete on my team. Her name is Morgan. She still does it now, but it was her first season. And she was really, really nervous about playing basketball and it took us a while to kind of encourage her to take a shot at the basket because she didn’t think she could make it. And it was like five seconds to the end of the game and she took a shot and she scored like the winning net that we needed to win the game. So she was very, very excited about that and I thought it was cool,” Biermann said.
Rowan Unified Sports Club will be hosting four more events for basketball this semester at the Rowan University Rec Center.
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