The winter season can be a dreary time for everyone, with cold temperatures, dark skies, and only two three-day weekends to break it up. This perfect storm of events leads to a lot of people dreading winter, but there is a way to combat this dread— through activities.
At BHS, there are lots of activities that take place in the winter season, such as swimming, basketball, fencing, wrestling, winter track, the school musical, and various clubs. This year, though, there is going to be a new way to combat winter while simultaneously making a difference in the community: Unified Bowling.
Unified Bowling is different from other sports in the sense that one of its goals is to create inclusivity within our school. The Unified Bowling idea was spearheaded by Dr. Niegel and Ms. Koransky. The team will be made up of students across BHS, focusing on the STAR students. The team wants to show the world and the community that having a disability does not hold one back and that everyone deserves to be included, allowing everyone to feel like they belong and matter. These ideas are the pillars of the team, promoting a change in ideas and making a difference in the community.
The team wants to include everyone and make a safe space where students do not feel stressed by the amount of competition that is usually associated with high school sports. According to head coach Amy Hart, “We also want to take steps to eliminate any stigma associated with disability.” Overall, one of the teams biggest goals is to change the way people think to allow for more inclusion within our community.
Unified Bowling also is set apart from other sports by its commitment to being stressless sport over competition. The team will begin practices starting in December for a smaller, six-week season. Each week there will be two practices rather than a five practice per week format often used by more competitive sports. This will allow for less stress as students will have more time to complete their homework or relax, providing for less pressure from schoolwork.
The team is like other sports, as it seeks to play against other schools in New Jersey who also follow this stress free mindset. This might add some friendly competition, but not as much as if there was a game or practice every single day of the week. These two factors will allow for a more light and less stressful atmosphere that some people may prefer more over a more stressful, more competitive atmosphere that some people live for.
When asked about the goals of the team, coach Amy Hart said, “We want students to have fun while bowling without having to worry about tough competition.” The team wants to promote inclusion and stressless sport, but what does this mean for the future?
The idea of Unified Bowling is one of a kind, it finds a way to mix together inclusivity with sport while also keeping the sport pretty much stressless with not a ton of pressure, appealing to a lot of students. Unified Bowling is just the beginning, though. BHS plans to apply the Unified Bowling concept to many more activities and clubs, promoting this inclusivity to more than just sports and trying to get everyone involved. This idea is called Unified Sports. This means that Unified Bowling is more than just an inclusive sport, it is a movement that everyone gets to be a part of, it’s a movement that will change the world for the better. The real question is, though, will you be a part of it?