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11/07/2023 01:26 PMThrough the undying work of dedicated volunteers, plus fortuitous teachers and coaches, one of the burgeoning communities within the Unified Sports world resides along the Connecticut Shoreline in the towns of Deep River, Essex, and Chester.
Within the Region 4 School District, kids are permitted to join Valley Unified Sports as soon as 8th grade, as the Unified Sports Program is under the umbrella of the Special Olympics. Yet two years ago, Susan Strecker observed that in a post-COVID world, the program was lacking additional support. So, alongside the volunteerism and servitude of a coach, they decided to truly give the entity a boost–opening the door to what has become the Valley Unified Buddies Booster Club.
“My daughter, Ainsley Strecker, joined in 2019 when she was in 8th grade. Then COVID happened and the program halted. The Unified coach quit and the program lay dormant until Kate Ely resurrected it. She is a rockstar. [Special Olympics and Unified Sports] mission is to give kids with learning differences a safe and inclusive place to participate in team sports,” said Strecker, President of the club. “Two years ago, I noticed that Unified Sports didn’t have a booster club. Our son, Cooper Strecker, played lacrosse for Valley, and my husband, Kurt, and I were very involved in the boys’ lax boosters. And Unified had nothing. No booster club. No funds. No awareness that they were even a sports team at Valley. So when Kate got the Unified Sports program up and running again, I thought we should have a booster club for them too. Unified Sports is just as important as every other sports team at Valley. So I thought that if we did all these amazing things for boys’ lacrosse, we should give all that love to Unified Sports too.”
Strecker added that additional influential and pivotal people from the education sector jumped in to keep the momentum going with the Unified clubs and pushed towards a powerful merger that produced a profound impact on the youth community.
“Now, this was about the same time that English teacher Carolyn Crehan was forming the Valley Buddies program. While not a sports program per se, Valley Buddies is very similar to Valley Unified Sports, because it focuses on the same group of kids,” said Strecker. “Valley Buddies takes kids with learning differences and pairs them with peer mentors to do fun stuff together both inside and outside of school. So it just seemed like a natural marriage to blend Unified Sports and Valley Buddies. I must admit having a booster club for our kids was my idea. But Kate and Carolyn have taken the program places that never even occurred to me. I just formed it so we could raise a few bucks to make sure our kids get all the same opportunities as the other Valley sports teams. I had no idea the things Kate and Carolyn would accomplish for these kids.”
Growth in so many facets has been on the rise in a short span. The first year Ely ran the program, there were no home games, and the team attended a few away games. For the 2022-’23 year, the program hosted three home games/meets (one soccer, one basketball, and one for track). Strecker explained that it has lasted long enough to where it actually was able to honor its inaugural graduating class–creating a similar setting to those other Warriors’ student-athletes.
“Each one was better than the last. And our kids went to many away games,” said Strecker. “May 2023 was the first time Valley has ever celebrated its Unified seniors with a Senior Night. We had two seniors graduate in 2023–Donna Loyola Herrera and Aiden Meyer. Both seniors were presented with custom made posters of them in their uniforms. They each received sweatshirt blankets embroidered with their names, VRHS and 2023. We celebrated them on the field, gave their moms flowers, had a pizza party with all the teams who came to our track and field event that day, and had a cupcake cake. Our Valley choir sang the National Anthem. It was so wonderful to see our Unified seniors celebrated just like every other senior athlete at Valley.”
Additionally, Ely put together an awards banquet for Unified Sports at a beautiful restaurant where the athletes hung out with their friends, received certificates of recognition, and the seniors garnered varsity letters.
“This year Kate has strengthened the program even more. We have more teams coming to our home games. For instance, we hosted our first home game of the year [last month] and had six schools attend,” said Strecker. “But it was the first time Portland High School had come to Valley. They were impressed with the pomp and ceremony. The football team and cheerleaders greeted every team and player. Every time we host a game and invite more schools and include more Valley teams, the more visible we are and the more awareness we raise for our kids.”
On Nov. 1, a few of the Unified Sports kids attended a CIAC Unified Champion Schools Youth Leadership Summit. Valley is one of only five schools in Connecticut to be awarded the title of being a Special Olympics Unified Champion School. In March of 2024, 23 of the Valley Unified Buddies are going to Disneyland in Florida for five days.
“That is wholly because of Kate and Carolyn Crehan’s dedication to our Unified Sports athletes, Valley Buddies and Unified Buddies kids,” said Strecker on the Unified Champion School distinction. “We have eleven Unified athletes and thirteen peer mentors going [to Disney]. This will be the truest test of the life skills they’ve been learning and practicing since they started at Valley. I don’t know of any other Unified Sports or Buddies program that has done this type of trip before. We will be a first for Disney, and they are welcoming us with open arms.”
Ely detailed that the kids truly take the lectures on life through sports to heart. Additionally, the volunteer peers enhance the overall atmosphere through their crucial encouragement and direction.
“It is always heartwarming to see that our lessons of sharing and sportsmanship are heard. During a game, a teammate who has the ball will usually stop and look around for someone who hasn’t had a chance to try for a goal,” said Ely. “These are some of the most resilient and loving students. They truly care that everyone on the field has a great time and gets a chance to play. The peers encourage the athletes to try hard even if they aren’t perfect. It is like having 10 extra coaches on the field alongside me. They help the athletes with their footwork during soccer, hand placement on the football, or best ways to shoot a basketball, which is always good, because I am not a super athletic coach so it is a huge help to me.”
Another one of the big emotional motives out of the Valley Unified Buddies and Unified Sports is to simply let its competitors feel they are just like their fellow peers and mentors, who encourage them to make the huge play, big goal kick, or jump shot of joy.
“Valley Unified Buddies and Valley Unified Sports are here to make sure our kids are just as celebrated and recognized as everyone else,” said Strecker. “It can be terrifying to be an adolescent and to stand out for whatever reason. We take our kids and celebrate their differences. We let them play sports on their own terms, doing their own thing. We pick the kindest and most wonderful peer mentors, who will encourage them down the field to kick the soccer ball, or who will pass them the basketball until they make a basket. They’re just them and having fun and enjoying organized sports with all their pals.”
Ely explained that watching the participants play to their fullest abilities is the highlight of any day for her as a coach and mentor.
“Watching the athletes run up and down the field during games, smiling and encouraging each other, is something that always brings joy to my day,” said Ely. “Most of these students don’t like doing physical activity. I mean, who really wanted to run around after a long day at school? But once practice or a game starts, the kids are running after the ball in soccer, encouraging teammates to make a goal, ensuring that everyone on the team has a chance to participate.”
The strides made go far beyond the sidelines, as last year, the programs organized a Unified prom under the direction of Ely and Crehan. The event served as the perfect capstone on the project of exponential growth of the Unified program within the Valley community, and the immeasurable impact it has left on its participants and supporters.
“They invited all the area schools who attend the same Unified Sports events as us,” said Strecker. “We had six schools and about 100 kids attended the Unified Prom. We held it at Valley complete with a red carpet, three food trucks, a DJ, and a photo booth. More importantly, we had a quiet space for the kids who needed to get away from the music. We had a separate space for desserts so the kids could sit and recharge. Not in one million years would that have happened without Kate Ely and Carolyn Crehan. They created and fostered this community of acceptance and friendship. They brought awareness to the rest of the school, and matched the kindest mainstream kids with our kids. They have built this beautiful community of acceptance and love. They have given Ainsley the one thing I thought she’d never have–a tribe of friends. Everything about Unified Sports and Valley Unified Buddies is just perfect. It’s all that is right and decent about the world.”