A team comprised of Arkansas Tech University students and Special Olympics of Arkansas athletes won the gold medal in the 2019 Special Olympics Unified Sports flag football state championship.
ATU won the title during the first weekend of November in Conway.
Unified Sports provides ATU students, known as partners, to compete alongside teammates from Special Olympics of Arkansas, known as athletes.
Team members included:
- Alvin Shavers
- Jason Boze
- Treece Embry
- Kenneth Greer
- Nathan Smith
- Eli Reyes
- Bryant Coleman
- Kendall Ellison
- Genaro Ochoa
- Travis Monk
- Sarah Moore
- Glendon VanSandt
- Ryan Tyrell
- Cole Gillespie
- Darby Dunn
In Unified Sports flag football, three athletes and two partners are on the field at any given moment. ATU hosted a Special Olympics Unified Sports flag football league earlier this fall. Three teams completed from September through early October.
“This benefits the athletes because they feel they are a part of it…there is no separation and no boundaries…just get out and play,” said Wendy Parks, training director for Special Olympics of Arkansas Area 17, while watching one of the league games earlier this semester.
Learn more about ATU’s partnership with Special Olympics of Arkansas by contacting Kerry Shannon, coordinator of campus recreation, at (479) 356-2010 or kshannon@atu.edu.
