No one claimed victory after a basketball tournament at Plymouth North High School last Wednesday.
“They don’t name a winner,” said Justin Domingos, athletic director at Plymouth North. “They do keep scores of the games, but there’s no winner of the tournament.”
The round robin tournament, called the Unified Basketball Jamboree, is co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and Special Olympics.
Teams from Plymouth North and South, Silver Lake, Duxbury, Hingham, and North Quincy high schools played one another on two courts. Plymouth North played its first game against Hingham while Plymouth South played against Duxbury, and teams rotated throughout the afternoon and evening.
But that’s not what makes the tourney special. It pairs students with and without intellectual disabilities.
“They play together on a team and compete together as teammates,” said Domingos. “Team sports help people to feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves,” Domingos said.
Student athletes on the rosters of Plymouth’s official sports teams volunteer for the program, as do other students, serving as players or referees.
Plymouth North has hosted the tournament for the past two years, Domingos said.
For every three students with disabilities on the court at a given time, there are two students without disabilities playing.
Domingos estimated that Plymouth North has close to 50 students in its Unified Basketball program. Plymouth South has 34, according to principal Patricia Fry.
Plymouth’s high schools also run a Unified Track program in the spring, with students attending several meets.
Plymouth North has been named a Unified Champion school by Special Olympics, Domingos said, which means that it has met standards of excellence, inclusion, advocacy, and respect for students with special needs. It was one of 11 high schools in Massachusetts to be so honored.
Fred Thys can be reached at fred@plymouthindependent.org