École Secondaire Notre Dame High School hosts third Annual ND Unified Cougar Classic

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(Image Credit: Ian Gustafson/rdnewsNOW staff)

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Inclusivity and sportsmanship

École Secondaire Notre Dame High School hosts third Annual ND Unified Cougar Classic

2h ago

The ND Unified Cougar Classic was held in the gymnasium at the high school, where students with and without intellectual disabilities competed as one team.

Throughout the event, the students played games, including bean bag toss and three-on-three basketball, and even found time for a dance party.

Unified sports teams throughout the province are made up of athletes, who are students with intellectual disabilities, and partners, who are students without intellectual disabilities. They work together by using teamwork and mutual support.

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The third annual ND Unified Cougar Classic was held on Thursday. Full story is on our website

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Notre Dame High School athlete Bench Clergo said it’s fun to take part because everyone helps each other out and has mutual respect for one another.

Clergo’s partner, Clarke Malo, said it’s awesome to be a part of.

“It’s great that all of us get to connect and support each other,” he said. “It’s super awesome seeing everybody out there having fun.”

Snow explained that approximately 12-13 schools in central Alberta either know about or have a unified sports team.

“This is our fourth year [with a unified sport team], and it’s become a real part of our school,” she said, adding that 60 volunteers helped put on the event on Thursday. “I constantly have mainstream students coming to me saying they want to be in it because they love it.”

(Image Credit: Ian Gustafson/rdnewsNOW staff)

Snow said approximately four years ago, Notre Dame and Lindsay Thurber were the first central Alberta schools to introduce unified sport.

She said since then, it’s grown a lot, with schools across the region hosting their own unified sports events. Iron Ridge Secondary Campus held its first annual event this year; a school in Olds recently held its second annual, and Lindsay Thurber plans to host one on May 7.