Wisconsin School for the Deaf - The Wisconsin Times Vol. 127 No. 3 Spring 2006 | Page 14

The Unified Special Olympic Team
The Unified Special Olympic team is a team made up
of Special Olympic athletes and their peers. WSD’s
unified team was made up of five Special Olympic
athletes and four peers. Peers were classmates of
the athletes who were not playing for the varsity
basketball team and who were willing to practice two
afternoons a week. The mix of athletes helps them
develop an understanding of each other and teaches
them to work together. The athletes are taught there
is no “I” or “me” on the team. In game situations,
there needs to be three Special Olympic players
and two peers on the court. The WSD Unified team
had an up and down season with losses at the area
competition to eliminate them from participating in
the state tournament. Members of the Unified team
were: Wes Burchfield, Daniel Dosemagen, Tyler
Kurth, Michael Morris, Sarah Morris, Mindy Radies,
Cliff Robinson, Tony Peterson, and Paul Silvasi.

A string of bad luck struck the WSD Firebirds Special Olympics Unified team at Unified Regionals Saturday, March 11 in
Marshfield, Wisconsin. There were five divisions of 17 teams from the whole state of Wisconsin: Oshkosh, Fond du Lac,
Waupaca, Manitowac, Columbus, Lake Mills, New Glarus, and Delavan. Unified teams are different from regular Special
Olympics teams in that the team is made up of three Special Olympic Players and two peer players of similar basketball
skills and abilities. Neither group can score more that 75% of the total points.