Special Olympics volunteers share program experiences
The URI Unified Basketball team pictured celebrating after a win. PHOTO CREDIT: specialolymicsri.org
The unified basketball team at the University of Rhode Island, which is run by the Special Olympics, is preparing for their last games of the season.
Maia Wilson, a junior writing and rhetoric major, reached out to and became involved with the Special Olympics via LinkedIn that got her in contact with the program.
“College students are all volunteers, and we play different colleges,” Wilson said. “The athletes are not associated with URI.”
Wilson and other students participate in games helping the athletes, who are kids from the area with special needs. They play against colleges around the area, such as Bryant University and Johnson and Wales University.
Wilson also writes for the team, which, along with other things she has written, help her talk about inclusion and its importance.
“I’ve been doing flyers and I’ve written an article about the different games and what we do,” Wilson said.
Elena Esposito, who is the head of team spirit for the organization, said that her participation in the program is one of the most fulfilling experiences she’s had during her time at URI.
While she usually does not play in games, she did recently due to lack of people there due to sickness and time conflicts.
“That was nerve wracking for me, I’m not good at basketball at all,” Esposito said, while adding that it was something she really wanted to do.
Esposito, a sophomore communications disorders major, got involved with the program through an advisor for her major. She mentioned that in addition to how fulfilling it has been for her, it has not been a huge time commitment.
She says one of the appeals is also being part of a team where you get to meet a wide variety of people.
“For everyone doing it, you really get to see these different aspects of life, different majors, different backgrounds,” Esposito said. “Even for the partners and the participants, everyone is part of it and it is really fun.
According to Wilson, there are two separate unified basketball teams, by the names of “Rhody” and “Rams.”
For “Rams,” the participants need a little more help, so volunteers will facilitate more, dribbling the basketballs and taking shots. On “Rhody,” however, they are often there to just be helpers and the team takes control of the game.
Wilson said the participants have learned a lot from the practices.
“I think that, as far as bringing them all together, they’ve learned so much from the first practice,” she said. “I remember the first practice, it was definitely a little messy, no one was communicating or talking to each other, but now everyone is doing so well.”
Wilson mentioned that her one hope is to raise awareness of the program. She mentioned that the school could do more to promote the team through things such as telling the students about the program, like Esposito’s advisor had.
Right now, though, she says that she wants to create more awareness of the team and help get more people involved for future years.