Submitted photo Left to right: Fredonia students Noah Tarbell, Miriam LaBar and Ava Rukavina were among 15 Unified Sports partners and seven Unified athletes from across Western New York who were honored at the first annual Friends of Unified Sports Scholarship Awards Ceremony held Saturday in Williamsville.
With the Unified Sports season coming to an end, several local participants have been recognized and are moving on to new chapters in their lives.
Unified athletes Noah Tarbell of Fredonia and Blaine Dunn of Southwestern were among seven recipients at the Friends of Unified Sports’ inaugural scholarship awards ceremony in Williamsville on Saturday. Additionally, 15 Unified Sports Partners received awards, including Zach Zenz of Dunkirk High School and Ava Rukavina and Miriam LaBar of Fredonia High School.
The Senior Partner Scholarship will be awarded to a Unified Sports participant who has demonstrated sportsmanship on and off the court with teammates and opponents, experienced personal growth through participation in Unified Sports, and gained foundational knowledge of the sport they participated in. One guest at Saturday’s event said, “I am honored to receive this award. “There was no one in the venue who wasn’t in tears.”
The purpose of Unified Sports is to unite the student body and the community at large through the power of sports. Unified athletes (those with special abilities) are paired with partners without intellectual disabilities to compete in the same sport. Western New York supports Unified Sports seasons for bowling, basketball, and bocce, and several schools are also piloting Unified Flag Football teams. These sports not only minimize overlap with other Unified Sports, but also avoid players’ varsity seasons as much as possible, encouraging participation from all who wish to play.
Dunkirk High School senior Zach Zenz (center) is pictured with Unified teammate Mekiah Sedlacek (right) and Unified Sports representative Corey Murray.
Creating space for everyone throughout the district is something Dunkirk does well: Dunkirk is one of only two schools in Western New York to be recognized as a National Unified Champion School through Special Olympics, and no one embodies the school’s commitment to inclusion of others more than Zenz, who teamed up with Mekia Sedlacek to lead Dunkirk’s Unified bowling team to three consecutive championships.
The role of a partner varies depending on the sport. In unified basketball, the partner often passes the ball to the player and helps them take shots. LaBarr is one of several local unified basketball players who have filled that role perfectly this season. Rukavina has excelled as a mentor in unified basketball and also participated in unified flag football in Fredonia.
In unified bowling, a partner teams up with an athlete and the two bowl together. The team’s total score is the score against the opponent. Zenz and Sedlacek teamed up to lead Dunkirk to their third consecutive championship this year, a feat that Sedlacek foresaw before the year even began. “I have a feeling we’ll win our third championship.” He said this a month before the season started.
When Dunkirk was honored earlier this year by raising the national Unified champion school banner, Zenz cheered from the sidelines before the Dunkirk-Fredonia University basketball game that followed the ceremony. He was one of hundreds of spectators in a packed gymnasium who heard Unified teammate Sedlacek proclaim, “We’re all best friends here!”
As he always does, Sedlacek accompanied his good friend Zenz to the banquet to cheer on his partner, and Sedlacek stood next to Zenz as he accepted the award.
“It was a great opportunity for me to be a part of the team,” said Zenz, who is class president at Dunkirk High School and plans to play baseball at Fredonia State University. “Being involved in the Unified Sports program has made me someone that people can be proud of, and more importantly, someone that I can be proud of.”
