LAURINBURG — Scotland County Parks and Recreation took the first steps toward creating a Unified Sports league for children in the county with disabilities.
The idea for the program was sparked by a random e-mail Athletics Director Edmund Locklear received last month, inquiring about if the county offered any kind of sports for children with disabilities.
“To my knowledge nothing like this has ever been done before in Scotland County,” Locklear said.
Locklear sat down with assistant director Cody Suggs and a handful of parents on Tuesday to come up with ideas and find out if the league was even something people would be interested in.
One idea Locklear and Suggs threw out to parents was the possibly of having a five-week program in the fall and choosing one sport for the children to participate in. Currently, Parks and Rec offers football, soccer, volleyball and cheerleading in the fall for children.
Another thought was to have an eight-week program and let the children learn all of the sports, spending two weeks teaching each of the different sports.
One father, whose 11-year-old daughter has Down Syndrome, suggested looking into some non-traditional sports like kickball or bowling which can be modified easily to accommodate a variety of special needs. With kickball age groups wouldn’t be as big of an issue the parents explained unlike in soccer or flag football.
The main goal parents stressed to Locklear and Suggs was that their children “feel a sense of belonging in sports.”
One of the challenges the group discussed was finding enough children of the same age and ability level to make a team. Suggs said the number of children on a team could be modified based on the level of interest.
“I’ve seen unified leagues that play soccer with five kids on each team,” he said. “We can adjust based on numbers, but our main goal is an environment of encouragement and support.”
The group agreed to reach out to the school system for help spreading the word about the league with flyers and to see about generating more interest.
Despite a small number of people attending the meeting Locklear and Suggs agreed it was a “good starting point.”
A second meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept. 7 at 6:30 p.m. at Scotland Place to determine the level of interest in the county and hold sign ups.
For more information about the Unified Sports league contact Edmund Locklear, 910-277-2589 or Cody Suggs, 910-277-2588.
Amber Hatten can be reached at 910-506-3170.
