The White River and Enumclaw Unified Basketball teams will start shooting hoops during their tip off jamboree on Jan 10.

While the high schools had Unified Sports teams last year, this will be the first year the teams will be competing in Unified Sports league play. Unified Sports, which is organized by Special Olympics Washington, is an inclusive program for students of all abilities to push themselves competitively.

“The difference between Special Olympics and Special Olympics Unified is that it is mixed,” explained Susan Root, the coach for the White River basketball team. “People with disabilities play with people without disabilities, which is what makes it so interesting as a coach and as a sport.”White River and Enumclaw teams compete in Districts 3 and 4.

While Bonney Lake and Sumner High School do not have a Unified Sports team, the two high schools have a combined basketball team that competes in traditional Special Olympics games. According to regional manager Chrissy Rasor, traditional Special Olympics teams do not mix players with and without developmental disabilities. Instead, the team fully composed of students with developmental disabilities.

Unified Sports basketball rules don’t differ much from mainstream basketball rules, although some of the rules are relaxed. For example, a player caught traveling an extra two steps may not be called on the offense. If a player scores after traveling, though, the point does not count and the offense is called.

Structure and requirements for Unified Sports teams, however, are stringent.

On the court, there is always ratio of three athletes to two partners. Athletes are players with a developmental disability, and partners are players without a developmental disability.

“This makes it really interesting as a coach, because everybody plays to their potential, no matter how good they are,” Root said.

Teams are picked by assessing the players. Highly skilled players are put on the competitive team, which is comparable to a varsity team. Mid-level players are chosen for the player development team, which is similar to junior varsity. There is also the skill team, which is for players with low-level skills. The skill team is only for athletes with severe developmental disabilities, and the 3:2 ratio does not apply.

Students that do not wish to compete can also play on non-competitive recreation teams during physical education classes or after school programs.“We try to match skill levels as best we can,” said Root. “Special Olympics is trained to meet the needs of everyone.”

All teams attend the games and participate, playing each other in multiple games a day, practicing for the Districts tournament.

Even though every team that wishes to compete in districts can, Root said, league games remain extremely competitive. Winners of districts move on to state and even national tournaments, as well.

A recent rule change in Unified Sports league games is the score cap for partners. In previous years, partners could only score 25 percent of the overall score, while it was up to athletes to score the other 75 percent.

Without the score cap, it is now up to teams and coaches to make their own calls on when to send in highly skilled athletes and partners that can dominate the court.

“Occasionally coaches need to be reminded who this is for,” Root said. “It’s not about the best team players, it’s about how we can encourage everybody to meet their own personal potential.”

League game time, dates and locations can be found on the Special Olympics Unified Sports website.