Unified Sports: Unified Goal, Unified Effort
By
Mark Uyl
MHSAA Executive Director
April 11, 2019
The following publisher's note and cover story were featured in this winter's edition of the MHSAA benchmarks magazine.
At its best, sport breaks down barriers and differences through promoting teamwork, inclusiveness and humility. At its worst, we’ve seen sport do the opposite.
Obviously those involved in school sports aim to create a culture within every school which fosters the best of what all of us can be. Those places that do this best have created a culture in every hallway, classroom, playing field and gymnasium filled with diverse students pulling for one another and working together regardless of the different backgrounds, races, religions, abilities, physical stature or academic acumen of each person. A culture of understanding and acceptance is what we strive for in each of our school communities.
On Nov. 24, such a scene played out on the grand stage of the playing surface at Ford Field in Detroit. In what we hope will be the launching pad for many more such events, Unified Sports competitors from four MHSAA member schools competed simultaneously in two games prior to the MHSAA Division 7 Football Final.
Unified Sports is an inclusive sports program within Special Olympics which pairs students with and without intellectual disabilities as teammates for training and competition.
From the time competitors walked through the tunnel to perform in front of family, friends, and the appreciative crowds from New Lothrop and Madison Heights Madison awaiting kickoff for the 10 a.m. game, the enthusiasm was unmatched.
Following competition these Unified teams were given tours of the facility, including a visit to the Detroit Lions locker room. We intended to deliver a day filled with an experience and memory for a lifetime for our guests, and feedback suggests that was accomplished. But, make no mistake, the session left lasting impressions on the staff here at the MHSAA, as well.
Brighton, Holt, Mason and Sparta – schools represented at the 2018 Football Finals – are among the 300-plus schools statewide which are Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools®, and it is our hope that the number continues to grow around Michigan and throughout the country.
The MHSAA and Michigan Special Olympics have a wonderful relationship, and we will continue to plan with our valued partner for future events as opportunities present themselves.
There is no limit to the benefits of these games and such a partnership. And, no limit to the enthusiasm of its participants who are helping to redefine school cultures by helping us break down barriers and build inclusive school communities around this great state.
***
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
The pass was lofted high, and floating toward the end zone nearest the tunnel where teams enter the playing surface at Ford Field.
As players from both teams converged, the intended receiver came away with the ball, clutching his prize and raising his arms in jubilant triumph.
It was arguably the best catch of the Thanksgiving weekend football feast in Detroit, and undoubtedly a memory this player will never forget. Moments later, the ear-to-ear grin remained as he high-fived spectators and family members on the way to the tunnel and up to the locker room.
And all of this happened before the second day of MHSAA 11-Player Football Finals kicked off Saturday, Nov. 24.
The play was one of many memorable moments to take place during the first-ever Unified Champion School event held in conjunction with the MHSAA Football Finals. If this year’s exhibition was any indication, it will be the first of many to come.
“The event far exceeded our expectations, and in discussions with the students, coaches and parents involved, I think it exceeded their expectations as well,” said MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl. “The feedback was positive, and the thanks and appreciation we received was overwhelming.”
Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools® (UCS) is an education-based project that uses sports and education programs to activate young people to develop school communities where all youth are agents of change – fostering respect, dignity and advocacy for people with intellectual disabilities.
Last summer, as Uyl was settling into his role as executive director at the MHSAA, Tim Hileman was acclimating himself to a similar role with Michigan Special Olympics. Both were replacing long-time leaders – Jack Roberts at the MHSAA and Lois Arnold at Special Olympics, who both had served their organizations for more than three decades.
The similarities brought Uyl and Hileman together, and they began to nurture seeds that had been planted by their predecessors.
“Mark reached out when the announcement was made that I was to become CEO of Michigan Special Olympics,” said Hileman. “We strongly believed in the benefits of a partnership between the two organizations. We talked about long-term plans and the goal of growing a culture of inclusion within our schools. A more immediate component was exploring existing opportunities to highlight a partnership, and what greater way to do that than at Ford Field during one of the most prominent weekends of the MHSAA sports season?”
The inaugural event included students from Brighton, Holt, Mason and Sparta school districts, each of which sponsor Unified teams.
Brighton, which has been in the game since 2016-17 and involves a combined 75 general education students and students with intellectual disabilities (I.D. students), recently earned national recognition for its Unified program.
“Andy Doupe, a faculty member who teaches special education here, brought the initiative to our district and it was a no-brainer that we needed to implement the program,” said John Thompson, athletic director at Brighton High School and a member of the MHSAA Representative Council. “It was a great opportunity to be supportive of all students in our community.”
Brighton Unified coach and faculty member Jody Renicker has helped take the lead.
“The foundation of Unified Sports is pretty simple,” Renicker said. “It's the idea that training and competing together is one of the fastest ways to friendship and understanding. The students discover that they are much more alike than they are different. This helps to dissolve the preconceptions and stereotypes often associated with people with disabilities.”
Just up the road in Holt, that community was gaining its own recognition, bringing home the Gold Medal from the USA Flag Football Championships in Seattle last summer. The lessons and experiences proved even more valuable.
“Athletes roomed with UCS partners,” said Val Suszko, a coach for the Holt/Mason program, which involves roughly 80 students with and without disabilities and is in its sixth year of existence. “The friendship that they developed over those 10 days was priceless. They are friends for life. They care for and protect each other. Without this experience, they wouldn’t have ever met.”
That’s the overriding goal of Unified athletics: to break down barriers within schools and communities while introducing young people to those with various challenges, offering opportunities to lead and assist.
“The inclusion of special needs kids and how it makes them feel is a wonderful part of the school community and program,” Thompson said. “We have a young lady with a prosthetic leg who never wore shorts because she was embarrassed. Now, being part of our basketball team, she wears shorts all the time.
“Naturally there’s a huge upside for the special needs students, but the general ed kids are being provided an opportunity to grow and develop leadership skills. The experiences open some eyes and break down some divisions that exist to make for an improved culture throughout the school. The melding of kids with different backgrounds of any kind is always good for perspective.”
Unified programs offer increased participation opportunity for the general education population as well as the I.D. students. For students who may not make the cut for school teams, or prefer to focus on academics or part-time jobs, the Unified option provides just what they are seeking. Others are varsity athletes looking for competition outside their preferred sport seasons.
“We receive a lot of interest from those partners who might have wanted to play on freshman, JV, or varsity teams but couldn’t meet the eligibility requirements or physically do not make the cuts at those levels of team tryouts,” said Renne Wyman, Unified coach at Sparta High School. “So they wander into the gym and join us. What happens is, the level of play ratchets up a notch or two. These kids initially come here to play, not necessarily help the intellectually disabled kids.
“But, then they start giving shooting advice, or directing them where to move offensively or whom to cover defensively. Suddenly they are talking to each other, and no adult staged the mentoring. It carries on between quarters, at halftime, before games and practices. They start texting and offering a seat in the cafeteria at lunch. I’m talking about major culture change in our building.”
This type of interaction serves to reduce the number of negative incidents in the hallways.
“Statistics show that these programs have proven to reduce bullying of the intellectually disabled population,” said Suszko of Holt/Mason. “To have an organized sports team and school support team is invaluable. The students with intellectual disabilities gain so much. They train together, play together and develop friendships through sports with the general school population.”
With such important life lessons in the balance, and 300-plus schools around Michigan sponsoring school programs, the time was right to further shine a spotlight on the product. In the past, Unified basketball events have been showcased during MHSAA Hoopfest events in conjunction with the Boys Basketball Finals, and it was time to take the next step.
“A partnership between the MHSAA and Special Olympics is a natural fit, and our goal is to assist in promoting inclusiveness and leadership components of Unified Champion Schools as opportunities at our tournaments allow,” Uyl said. “These are such worthwhile endeavors, and the student-athletes involved truly symbolize the best in school sports.”
The Ford Field event provided a chance for some serious competition on the field, along with countless smiles – and some tears – from onlookers and support groups following the action.
“My favorite story from that day came as Mark (Uyl) was addressing the group in the Lions locker room and thanking them for being there,” Hileman said. “I looked into the corner of the room and there’s a man – pretty good sized, tough-looking – standing there with his wife, and they’ve got tears in their eyes. The dad came up and told me, ‘I never thought I’d see my son play any kind of sport, and here he is at Ford Field. I’ll never forget this, and never watch a Lions game without thinking of this.’
“So many of our athletes are told what they can't do. Special Olympics is about showing what they can do.”
For Suszko, the highlights began earlier in the morning.
“The most memorable moment for me was watching the expressions on all of the athletes’ faces as they walked through the tunnel onto the field,” she said. “What a great opportunity. The hospitality that Mark Uyl, Nate Hampton, and the rest of the staff gave us was appreciated so much. The parents were excited. They loved seeing their athlete participating alongside the other high school football teams. Watching barriers being broken and teamwork being established is what inclusion is all about.”
There were plenty of emotions to go around, from the guests and the hosts.
“The kids and parents were over the moon when the invitation came. Ford Field, the MHSAA Finals, it really resonated with the kids, the school and families,” Thompson said. “Nate and Mark and all staff involved went out of their way to make it a wonderful and meaningful experience. They did more for the families and kids than anyone expected. We are very appreciative of the MHSAA continuing to work toward inclusion, and events like these help to spread the word.”
Spreading the word will help bolster an already strong movement both in Michigan and nationally. Hileman is excited for the future in partnering with the MHSAA for events like the one in November, which generate a high level of enthusiasm. In the near future, he has some more immediate goals.
“We are concentrating on expanding league play. That’s what sports are; athletes competing, and our athletes want to compete,” Hileman said. “We have league play in the O-K Conference, and in the Lansing area. Our goal and vision is to continue to build on the Unified conference experience; more competitions during the season.”
The Sparta program has been in place for four years, and numbers have increased from a handful to a total of 60 partners and Special Olympics athletes combined. Volunteers are a vital part of the initiative, and Wyman says hundreds of people donate their time at affiliated service projects held twice yearly. The school offers Unified flag football at the league/conference level each fall, Unified ski/snowboard on a smaller scale, Unified basketball at the league/conference level in the winter, and is looking to add Unified track & field at the league/conference level this spring.
Make no mistake; athletes of all kinds like to compete.
“My kids are learning the game like they never did before. The partners don’t dumb down the vocabulary or slow down what they teach. This occurs in real-time scrimmaging with a need to adjust quickly,” said Wyman. “So our Unified athletes are being coached and challenged to increase their skill and conditioning at a level I just can’t replicate in my Special Olympics Physical Education class where no partners are present.”
One also cannot replicate the related successes outside the gyms and away from the fields, where Wyman reports that I.D. students are now being offered rides to school for dances and athletic events, improving their grades to be eligible to participate in the program and becoming healthier through the activities, all while gaining confidence in themselves.
Renicker believes that seeing is believing, and encourages people to attend events in neighboring communities. The impression will likely spur action.
“My No. 1 suggestion would be to come and witness how special a Unified Game is,” Renicker said. “It will give you hope for our future and highlight some pretty amazing things that are going on in schools every day that don't make the front page of the newspaper. I feel so lucky to be part of a school community that values this program and the culture it has created.”
Hileman recently attended a national Special Olympics event and heard International Chairman of Special Olympics Dr. Timothy Shriver proclaim his dream: that just as every high school sponsors boys and girls athletic programs, he hopes that one day every high school in the country will become a Unified Champion School.
It is a big dream, but the slightest nudge can put things in motion, as Wyman has seen.
“It can start small. You only need one or two partners to commit and you can get something going,” Wyman said. “A lot of kids would love to help in supporting roles, whether it’s running sporting events, officiating, keeping stats, designing, or organizing. In the beginning, it is one person reaching out to one school seeing if they can get together and play the game.”
With that, the guidance of Special Olympics, and assistance from partners like the MHSAA, maybe the ball can keep rolling all the way around the state.
***
Inclusion is Primary Mission of Special Olympics UCS
Team sports bring people together. Special Olympics Unified Sports® teams do that, too, and much more.
About 1.4 million people worldwide take part in Unified Sports, breaking down stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities in a really fun way. ESPN has served as the Global Presenting Sponsor of Special Olympics Unified Sports since 2013, supporting the growth and expansion of this program that empowers individuals with and without intellectual disabilities to engage through the power of sports.
Promoting Social Inclusion Through Sport
Special Olympics is dedicated to promoting social inclusion through shared sports training and competition experiences. Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding. In Unified Sports, teams are made up of people of similar age and ability. That makes practices more fun and games more challenging and exciting for all. Having sport in common is just one more way that preconceptions and false ideas are swept away.
States Embracing Unified Sports
Young people with disabilities do not often get a chance to play on their school sports teams. More and more states are adopting the Unified Sports approach that Special Olympics pioneered.
Unified Sports is also an integral part of Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools, which was founded in 2008 and funded through the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs at the U.S. Department of Education to use Special Olympics as a way to build inclusion and tolerance in schools. Unified Sports are now in more than 4,500 elementary, middle and high schools in the United States. Seventy percent of Unified Champion Schools (Pre-K through Grade 12) are engaging in Unified Sports! Also 215 U.S. colleges and universities have Special Olympics College Clubs on campus, providing ongoing Unified and inclusionary activities for students and Special Olympics athletes. Seventy-three of the 215 U.S. colleges and universities activating Special Olympics College conduct ongoing Unified Sports on their campuses. Learn how to get involved at www.playunified.org.
Mission: Inclusion
As part of the Special Olympics-Lions Clubs International “Mission: Inclusion” partnership, the LCI youth network-Leos have become a strong global partner in expanding and implementing Unified Sports together with Special Olympics. The Leos have helped start and sustain Unified Sports in a number of nations worldwide, and serve as one of the movement’s strongest youth leadership networks in bringing inclusive programming to communities across the world. From Zimbabwe to Brazil and from California to India, the Leos continue to amplify the voice of athletes and embody the creed: Play Unified. Live Unified.
Major sports organization, league and event support to Play Unified
Many high-profile, professional sports organizations and events have also showcased Unified Sports as a vehicle to show the power of inclusive sports! This support includes:
• National Basketball Association (NBA)
• Major League Soccer (MLS)
• Union of European Football Associations (UEFA)
• National Collegiate Athletic Association, D-III
• ESPN's X Games Aspen
• National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)
• National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA)
PHOTOS: (Top) Unified teams from Brighton and Mason/Holt play during the second day of the MHSAA 11-Player Football Finals at Ford Field. (Top middle) Participants from those three schools and Sparta took part in the morning's games. (Middle) Sparta athletes stand together for the national anthem. (Below middle) A Brighton coach and players exchange high fives. (Below) Brighton's Unified basketball team plays during a celebration for receiving national recognition last fall. (Photos by John Johnson.)
Jackson's Imprint on MHSAA Stretches 45 Years, Across 4 Executive Directors
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 5, 2022
First impressions can be significant, as many a saying goes. And Karen Brown unknowingly provided one in 1978 that helped affect the course of athletics in this state over the next 40-plus years.
A Michigan State University student named Karen Leinaar had shown up at the Michigan High School Athletic Association for a meeting about a 5K road race she was planning that was unrelated to the MHSAA except that the building provided a good meeting place – and Brown, just a year out of high school, was the first person to greet her at the old Trowbridge Road headquarters.
Seeing someone her age immediately made Leinaar more comfortable. She ended up returning to that office several times over the years, registering as an MHSAA game official while still an MSU student and then starting a career in 1982 that has included nearly 40 years as a high school athletic director and two decades of shaping policy as part of the MHSAA Representative Council.
That’s the kind of impact that’s emanated from Karen Jackson, formerly Brown, and over the last 45 years as assistant to four of the five executive directors during the MHSAA’s 98-year history. Jackson finished that run with her retirement Friday.
“She was always one that would welcome you, and whether you walked into the office or called on the phone, she always had an answer that would calm you down or provide you with the information you needed,” said Leinaar, who currently is serving as interim athletic director at Frankfort High School in addition to her duties as executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association.
“I remember initially calling and needing something from Mr. Norris – it was always Mr. Norris – and she could answer the question,” Leinaar added, referring to retired MHSAA executive director Vern Norris, who served in that role from 1978-86. “You didn’t want to talk to scary Mr. Norris – Vern was a wonderful man, but he was like the superintendent or principal. Karen always had the answer. … It was always that smile that made you feel like you were more than welcomed, wanted in the office, and everything is going to be OK.”
Jackson began at the MHSAA in June 1977, two days before her graduation from long ago-closed Harry Hill High School in Lansing.
Her high school sports career amounted to about half a season on the Hill varsity volleyball team as a sophomore before she had to switch gears to begin working for the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce as part of a school co-op program.
Jackson graduated as a co-valedictorian of Hill’s Class of 1977. Despite her academic standing, she hadn’t received much guidance at school on the possibility of college. But she had a job offer from the Chamber – and also had heard from grade-school friend Deborah Norris (Vern’s daughter) about an opening at the MHSAA.
The MHSAA was offering more money, and Jackson was hoping to buy a car – and so at 18, she became the secretary for executive director Allen W. Bush.
The title has changed over the years, from secretary to the executive director, to executive assistant, to senior executive assistant. The MHSAA’s administrative processes obviously have changed, mostly because of technology, from everything done on paper and through the mail to just about everything conducted digitally over the internet.
But many of Jackson’s most important duties at the end of her tenure resembled those she was hired to carry out nearly half a century ago.
Setting Exemplary Expectations
Bush retired a year after Jackson began, and she then assisted Norris for his eight as executive director. She served with Jack Roberts through his 32 years as executive director from 1986-2018 and then for these first 3½ under current director Mark Uyl.
She was considered the “baby” of the MHSAA staff during her first 12 years, until she turned 30 and her support staff teammates declared she wasn’t the baby anymore during a Christmas party serenade. Just about 33 years later, she’s leaving as one of two people left who worked in the old offices before the MHSAA moved to another East Lansing headquarters at Ramblewood Drive in 1996.
School sports happen thanks to a Karen Jackson or two in every community -- people who provide the unseen support that makes these programs possible every day.
For the last 45 years, she’s provided a consistent anchor for service to 1,500 schools and millions of student-athletes across Michigan.
“She’s shaped so much of what we’ve done,” said MHSAA assistant director Kathy Vruggink Westdorp, who joined the staff during the 2003-04 school year after more than two decades working for Grand Rapids-area schools. “Her service to schools was imperative to what she was doing, and it was a valuable part for our membership. Hers was such a dedicated service, such an exemplary service – finding solutions, to do what’s needed.”
There are file cabinets and libraries and hard drives at the MHSAA office, the contents of which are known by only a handful of people on Earth – and Jackson perhaps the most as she did most of the sorting and maintaining of those files over the years.
For a 1996 Lansing State Journal feature on the MHSAA’s support staff, Jackson (then Yonkers) explained “there are always new challenges, new issues and controversies. It never gets boring. In the past 19 years, we’ve slowly shifted from dealing with athletic administrators, principals and superintendents to dealing with legislators, attorneys and courts.”
The last 25 years has seen much of the work swing back to providing service directly to schools. And Jackson’s mind has become part MHSAA library and part card catalog of where to find those few snippets she might not recall immediately from the last half century.
“I guess what I’m proud of is being able to find things, to know where to find things and how to find things that other people don’t,” Jackson said. “Yes, the technology has changed everything. … We used to have more schools – they used to have 40-some Detroit public schools – and there was a whole era of (litigation), but it’s calmed down now.
“I liked what I did, and it kept me on my toes – that’s for sure.”
The MHSAA is rooted in its responsibilities as a championship and eligibility rules maker, and Jackson was involved in just about every communication in those areas during her time. Tournament changes are made at Representative Council meetings, and she’s reported the minutes for at least 150 of those, including piles of special sessions as the MHSAA managed sports through the COVID-19 pandemic. Eligibility waivers are requested at Executive Committee meetings, and she’s prepared somewhere north of 505 sets of minutes for those monthly sessions even as those agendas have grown in content substantially over the years.
Then there’s all of the correspondence from those four executive directors – all with the initials “kb” or “kj” to go with “AWB” or “VLN” or “JER” and “MU.” She also was in charge of MHSAA election ballots for 35 years, served as the lead organizer of cooperative programs, helped with football tickets for a time and briefly was part of the program-selling crew at early Football Finals at the Pontiac Silverdome.
“I think I’m pretty lucky, being on the Council and Executive Committee, that I’ve been able to work with her a lot. And most athletic directors, they may not even know who she is because they may not have contact with her or do anything with her – but she’s obviously been the unsung hero of that office,” said Vic Michaels, who serves as director of physical education & athletics for the Archdiocese of Detroit and has served on the Representative Council since 2003.
“She just does so much that you don’t really know about, especially with the Council. Whenever I need anything, Karen’s the one I call. She is the history, really. She’s the keeper of that.”
Unprecedented & 'Never to be Replicated'
A longtime co-worker of Jackson, Shirley Hytinen, retired in 1998 after just a few months more than 43 years. She too had worked for four executive directors, as she began in 1955 during the Charles E. Forsythe era.
Jackson surpassed Hytinen’s tenure a few years into Uyl’s, and can readily recall some of what stood out from all four directors she’s assisted.
Bush was “really stern” – he had served in the U.S. Marines – and she said he didn’t smile much until the day he announced his retirement, when it was “like a switch turned. He was smiling and happy and joking around.”
Norris was “the sweetest guy in the world.” Jackson had bought her first house in her mid-20s and was preparing to move in with only her dad and his motor home to assist, when Norris showed up to help at 7:30 a.m. that morning to provide another set of hands.
Roberts is known by Michigan administrators and national colleagues for his writing, and Jackson said jokingly she still “cringes” when she sees a yellow legal pad. She was an important proofreader and spent the majority of her career serving with her desk just a few paces away from that of the recent National Federation Hall of Fame selection, and she attended his induction this past summer and San Antonio.
Roberts pointed out that during the 1980s, the MHSAA would conduct nine Executive Committee meetings, each averaging fewer than 10 requests for waivers. By the end of his 32 years, there were 11 Executive Committee meetings annually – with approximately 50 waiver requests presented on average. Still, he and Jackson were able to process the meeting minutes and continue to distribute those decisions within 24 hours.
“Over the more than three decades that Karen and I worked together at the MHSAA, the work became increasingly more voluminous and complicated – and Karen kept finding ways to increase our efficiency and maximize our output,” Roberts said.
Like Norris when Bush was executive director, Uyl had been part of the MHSAA staff under Roberts since 2004 before eventually moving into the corner office. After those first 15 years together, Uyl knew what a valuable person he had just a few yards away to assist in his transition, and “he just says to do this” and allows his staff to run with it, which Jackson enjoyed.
Her duties have been shifted confidently, mostly to Jamie VanDerMoere, another longtime administrative assistant who is best-known to Michigan school sports people for her leadership with the annual wrestling championship tournaments.
Jackson recently was married to Jim Jackson, and they have plans as they close in on their first anniversary – they’re hoping to travel to Italy at some point and also The Masters in Augusta, Ga., next spring. “I’m not going to miss coming to work every day, but the people,” Karen Jackson said.
And many in school sports across Michigan, although they may not realize it, will miss the contributions Jackson has made to their community over the decades including the context she’s provided as thousands of decisions have been made.
“Not only her understanding of our regulations and the processes of our regulations, but understanding why we have those things in place – when someone does something 45 years, you get a lot of historical context,” Uyl said. “What’s made her so effective is understanding the why – and that to me is something that’s almost impossible to replace.
“When an organization has been around 98 years with only five directors, it says something to have worked for four out of the five. That will never be replicated again.”
PHOTOS (Top) From top left, Karen Jackson has been a mainstay of the MHSAA for decades – serving membership, working with administrators like Randy Allen and Gina Mazzolini or serving as assistant to executive directors like Jack Roberts (right) and Vern Norris. (Middle) Jackson, sitting fourth from left, was the “baby” of the MHSAA staff after joining when she was 18. (Below) Jackson and husband Jim have plans to travel in retirement. (MHSAA archives.)