Fostering friendship
JACKSON TWP — It's a sport usually played outside during summertime backyard barbecues. But Seneca Valley High School's newest sports team is bringing bocce ball inside and bringing together students with and without disabilities to compete, foster friendship and join the two long-separated groups.
The bocce team is the district's first Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association-recognized inclusive sport, said Jerry Miller, the district's special education director. The team was started through a partnership with Slippery Rock University and the Special Olympics' Interscholastic Unified Sports Program.
“We need to get out of that environment where we're separating kids,” said Katie Smolter, learning support teacher at the senior high school and team adviser. “They're going to gain more from being with their peers.”
The unified sports program brings together students with and without intellectual disabilities to play on a team together. The goal is to have approximately equal numbers Special Olympics athletes and athletes without disabilities.
The Seneca Valley High School bocce team has five students with disabilities and four without, Smolter said.
Smolter said the Unified Sports bocce program grew exponentially in the last year in Western Pennsylvbania, expanding from an initial 29 students participating to 180 this year. The Butler School District also has an inclusive bocce team.
Slippery Rock University provided the coaching, materials and equipment, Smolter said, and all she had to do was put the team together and be on hand to advise. She recruited students from her special education classes, the Best Buddies Club that brings special education and high school students together, and the varsity lacrosse team she coaches.
The team practices twice a week after school for two hours at the Seneca Valley Middle School. Team members kicked things off at the beginning of December and will play their first match at the end of the month.
They'll play three matches against other local teams, including a Feb. 15 match against Butler at the Butler Intermediate High School, before competing at a regional tournament in Slippery Rock in March.
The top teams from the tournament will move on to the state championships in Hershey.
Tommy Shipeck, a graduate student in the adapted physical activity program at SRU, coaches the team. He starts the students off with some warm-up activities before they get to bowling.
Shipeck said he tries to emphasize activity at the start of practice as it may be the only exercise the high school students get all day outside of their gym classes, if they're not involved in other sports.
“That is what we're all about, health and wellness for everyone,” he said.
The group of nine students, ages 15 to 21, do a variety of stretches and run laps in the gym before setting up the bocce court.The 60-feet-by-12-feet court is made from PVC pipe. The students set it up and break it down at each practice as a team-building exercise, Shipeck said.The sport involves tossing balls to land closest to a smaller ball called a pallino.The balls are made from a weighted rubbery plastic that deadens when the balls hit the floor. The goal, whether inside or outside, is still the same, to get the bocce balls as close as possible to the smaller pallino ball.Once the court is laid out, bocce players run through some skills drills to practice accuracy and strategy before playing practice matches against each other.Students Savannah Holcomb and Rachael Spielman think the team is coming together well. The girls are friends and buddies in the Best Buddies club.“I think we stand a good chance,” Savannah said. “We have some good players. It's nice to see them excel at this sport”Rachael said she's played bocce before in gym class and enjoyed it, but one detail really sealed the deal for her to join the team.“When I found out if we win we go to Hershey, that made my day,” she said.On top of honing their skills on the bocce court, the girls are enjoying the camaraderie on the team.“I like meeting new friends and hanging out with my buddy,” Rachael said.“It's a good group of people,” Savannah added. “There's some very fun personalities.”Although Seneca Valley has educated students with special needs and their peers together as much as is appropriate, there's a divide, Smolter said. Inclusive education and activities bridge the gap of understanding and knowledge between the students who historically had been educated separately.“Sports tend to bring people together,” she said. “I've seen nothing but positive results here.”
