Learning to be a team player through Unified Sports
Unified Pair from Bihar
Mayank, a student of Class 9 and Aryan a student of class 8 at Destiny International, Patna, Bihar met on the football grounds, teaming up for Unified sports. Mayank is an Athlete with Autism and was recommended for the Unified football team by his special educator who has also been trained as Coach by Mr Sandeep Kumar, Area Director, SO Bharat- Bihar. The teams were being recruited to establish unified sports in the school as part of the program supported by SNF (Stavros Niarchos Foundation)
Observing his skills in traditional football, his coach observed that Mayank was well prepared to be integrated into the football team. Earlier, Mayank didn’t respond readily when spoken with, he would not really listen. An individual sport – powerlifting was identified for him as his social communication was weak and may have impacted team performance, if integrated too early into the team.
Aryan, unified partner, is a national badminton player. He has a sibling with an IDD whose name is Anurag. Aryan, dominated by his mind-set, would hardly be seen with his brother. But when Anurag was brought to practise football by Mr Sandeep at a sports academy Aryan started to observe a developmental side of sports, Anurag who often would be left closed at home, would now be seen participating in conversations. Aryan expressed interest to join a unified team.
Paired with Mayank, Aryan, began to bond with him. Over regular practises spread across a few months Mayank, who would answer in monosyllables, doing only and exactly as told to do, showed a change. If told to kick he would, if not, he wouldn’t. He now acknowledges people, communicates and connects well with his teammates.
Mayank has demonstrated his talent in powerlifting too, when he won a Gold in the National Championship. Besides, he has played handball. The learning is two-fold, while Mayank has become a team player, Aryan has learnt punctuality from him and connects well with his brother. They understand each other well. Unified sports brought Mayank and Aryan together helping them play and learn together. “Their amazing bonding promises to continue as unified sports becomes a regular feature, seeing the change that its bringing on and beyond the sports field. We hope and aim to introduce Unified sports in each and every school to bring and spread the change. I thank SNF for giving us a point to begin with”- Sandeep Kumar
