Rutgers Unified Sports Builds Student Connection and Community
This winter, the Special Olympics hosted the World Winter Games in Italy, featuring disabled athletes in competitions for figure skating, skiing, and snowboarding, among many other sports.
In New Jersey, the Rutgers Unified Sports Club in Recreation in the Division of Student Affairs will be competing in Unified College Championship Week from April 7 to 11, as well as the Unified Cup Basketball Tournament on April 12. The tournament will be hosted at Princeton University and involves some New Jersey high school unified sports teams, as well as all New Jersey unified college sports teams.
“Unified Sports organizations are clubs where students with and without disabilities play on the same field,” said Madison Whittaker, who is the president of Unified Sports at Rutgers, a club in Recreation.
“Half of our students don’t have any sort of disability, and half the students on the field have some sort of disability,” Whittaker said. “Everyone is allowed to score, to steal the ball, to defend, and is treated the exact same way, which creates an inclusive sports environment.”
The Rutgers Unified Sports club team currently plays soccer, basketball, and track, hosting practices once per week and competing with universities across the state. In October 2024, Rutgers Unified competed for the Division II Unified Soccer Cup in New Jersey, placing second overall.
“We just played soccer and celebrated with each other,” said Brynne Finer, a first-year student who participated in the soccer tournament. “I came back from that day and I was tired, but just beaming, so happy and excited to be a part of Unified.”
For Whittaker and Finer, who are both abled students, their time in Unified Sports has been a valuable community-building experience.
"I came to the first unified practice in the fall, and I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect,” said Finer. “When I got there, everyone was in a circle, saying each other’s names, and at that moment, I thought, ‘Okay, this is exactly what I wanted it to be.’”
“It was just like high school,” Finer continued, who had previously participated in the Best Buddies program. “I’m surrounded by these amazing people who are always giving, and never ask for anything, and just create a very fun vibe and welcoming environment.”
Whittaker, for her part, emphasized the special environment that Rutgers Unified creates between abled and disabled athletes.
“An inclusive sport mixes everybody together, and the exposure increases everyone’s comfort with each other,” Whittaker said. “If they play Unified, abled students are more likely to hang out with disabled students, to sit with them at lunch, and ultimately become friends.”
Disabled athletes who join Rutgers Unified Sports also find a welcoming, positive environment where they can flourish and grow. Many of them previously participated in high school Unified Sports programs or similar activities and are looking for ways to continue playing sports in a positive, welcoming, environment.
“Unified pushes my limits and my strength,” said Thomas Huber, a disabled athlete who joined Rutgers Unified Sports after he graduated from Mount Olive High School, where he had previously participated in a unified sports program. “It teaches me to be a good sport, and if I keep trying, if I never give up, I can do it.
“Try it out,” Huber added, directing his thoughts at other disabled students who might be thinking of joining Rutgers Unified. “It helps you be healthy and adds good exercise to your schedule.”
His mother, Colleen Huber, like Whittaker, emphasized the positive culture of Rutgers Unified.
“Unified is all about sportsmanship and fairness, and it’s all of the best things that sports should be about,” she said. “It’s about coming together to play a game, and if you win, that’s great, but if you don’t, that’s okay, too.”
“It’s really a fantastic program both for students with special needs and for typical students,” she said. “It breaks down the barriers and stigma, and they’re all young adults; they have more in common than they do in difference.
As the club approaches the end of the academic year, Whittaker, as a junior, is looking to grow the club and expand its leadership opportunities.
“My plan is just to grow the club as much as I can with the time I have left here,” she said. “We have a few members right now who are younger and that I'm training to take on leadership roles, and it’s nice to have such a dedicated group of people who are willing to go the extra mile, to stay up a little later, to focus on, ‘How can we make this bigger?’”
If you would like to learn more about Rutgers Unified Sports, you can visit their website here and their Instagram account here. To join the club, you can click here.
