Oxford High Program Receives State Honor

The Oxford High School Unified Sports team gives students of all abilities equal opportunity to compete. And apparently, the program does a remarkable job.

On Monday night at the Aqua Turf in Southington, the first-year program at OHS received the Anne Malafronte Rookie School Award given annually by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference.

"Your school's team and coach have gone over and beyond to make this year very special for athletes, partners, parents and school personnel," reads a letter from Unified Sports Connecticut Director Louis J. Pear. "Your student body has also embraced your Unified Sports team and has helped to change attitudes and to change lives." (See full letter attached.) 

Oxford has 22 students from a variety of peer groups who participate in the program, coached by physical education teacher Jennifer LaCapra. Unified Sports is a registered program of Special Olympics that combines approximately equal numbers of athletes with and without intellectual disability on sports teams for training and competition, according to the CIAC website. All Unified Sports players, both athletes and special partners, are of similar age and matched sport skill ability, the website states. Unified Sports teams are placed in competitive divisions based on their skill abilities, and range from training divisions (with a skill-learning focus) to high level competition, according to the CIAC.

The team participated in soccer in the fall and is playing basketball in the winter. The team has participated in volleyball and track and field.

Learn more about the Unified Sports program in this Patch archive story here. 

Also on Monday, students Salim Lemond and Emily Soss won the partner/athlete award from Unified Sports. 

Congratulations to all of the players and coaches! You make your school and community proud.