00:00 - Bocce.

00:02 - It's not just about the team or an individual athlete.

00:05 - It's about the whole school culture.

00:09 - Let's go.

00:09 - I'm Matt Aaron.

00:10 - I'm the CEO of Special Olympics Pennsylvania.

00:12 - We are here today at the Giant Center for the 2025.

00:16 - State Unified Indoor Bocce Championship.

00:20 - We have the top eight teams from all over the state

00:23 - competing here today, and they earned this opportunity.

00:26 - We started with 427 teams across the state.

00:31 - They've progressed up

00:32 - through eight regional championships and now the top eight are here today.

00:36 - What did he call girls?

00:38 - It is tails. Red.

00:40 - You want Red in the lead? Yeah, we got it.

00:43 - Unified Champion Schools is a program that has three really important

00:47 - components.

00:48 - It's unified sports, which pairs students with

00:51 - and without disabilities together as teammates on the same team.

00:55 - It has a unified youth leadership component

00:58 - and a whole school engagement component.

00:59 - The students who participate in unified Champion schools.

01:02 - They get the same thing that any student athletes get out of any varsity sport.

01:07 - Teamwork, self-discipline, leadership

01:10 - and the real magic is something that's really, really simple.

01:13 - The reason this program is so valuable and so powerful is it's student led.

01:19 - And the students who participate build authentic friendships. Oh,

01:25 - yeah.

01:25 - It's a great way to include people.

01:26 - I've had tons of fun doing this work with these guys,

01:28 - and the more I get to know them, I like them every single day.

01:31 - And the way that both sides, the unified bocce players

01:34 - and the partners play together, it's just it's unreal.

01:38 - And that's why we're here

01:40 - that day.

01:42 - It's been a labor of love.

01:44 - 12 or 13 years ago.

01:45 - We met with Matt Aaron, the head of, Special Olympics Pennsylvania,

01:49 - and he said, hey, how about if we, join a partnership here and try

01:53 - to, grow, unified sports in our schools?

01:58 - And, our staff has really,

02:00 - put, the push behind it and working with Matt and Mike

02:06 - and Jen and some of the other folks that they have on their staff.

02:09 - We, started this, venture.

02:12 - It's been absolutely tremendous.

02:14 - Yeah, it has grown tremendously.

02:16 - We are over 500 schools now and hope to get

02:20 - even double that here in the next five years or so.

02:23 - So we're really happy that, the bocce has taken off so well,

02:28 - but also, our unified track and field championships,

02:32 - and they, we do the same thing where we have our competition

02:36 - as part of our championship event here.

02:39 - We have bulldogs. Here we go.

02:41 - We started with the small pilot program in Philadelphia for middle schools.

02:45 - We've grown now to 503 schools in 61 counties all over the state.

02:51 - Most of those schools right now are high schools.

02:53 - And that was intentional to build out that relationship via the.

02:58 - So we've now reached, a significant number of the high schools.

03:01 - Our vision now is we want to get into more middle and elementary schools.

03:04 - We've already started, and we want to take this bocce program

03:07 - in particular and push it down into middle and elementary schools.

03:11 - So we've got bocce now at all three levels elementary, middle, high school.

03:15 - And we've also got powerful programs like,

03:18 - Young Athletes Program that's for students ages 2 to 7.

03:22 - That really helps to introduce them to sports

03:25 - and motor activity, activities.

03:29 - Oh. It's unreal.

03:32 - This experience in itself is surreal.

03:35 - And we're just really excited to be here and now bringing home the state title.

03:39 - I'm super blessed because, four of the students that play are my students.

03:44 - So anybody that teaches, you know, that you spend

03:47 - almost as much time with your students as you do your own family.

03:50 - So, again, I'm with them a lot.

03:52 - And then my own son, who's a junior, he is on the team.

03:56 - He's been playing for three years.

03:57 - So that special being not only the coach but a mom on the team,

04:01 - and have your kid in here and then the other three players are,

04:05 - best friends.

04:06 - I mean, truly,

04:07 - we vacation together as families, so we couldn't get any more unified.

04:11 - It was like being a state champion.

04:13 - It's the greatest. I mean, this is the ever.

04:16 - This is the best.

04:17 - I don't have the words, but this is one of the thrilling

04:21 - victories I ever had in my life as a high school student.

04:25 - You know, it was a great experience out there.

04:26 - Electric, advantage of him carried us that game winning throw.

04:32 - So, you know, I just gave my talk before the game winning throw to,

04:35 - you know, just do his thing.

04:37 - Just do his thing. And he he did it.

04:39 - Got the game winning throw for us in the state championship.

04:41 - And we went on to win that.

04:42 - So we've been a partner for three years now.

04:44 - You know I first met him I think it was a Special Olympics.

04:46 - And then we just kind of bonded because we're both kind of quiet.

04:50 - So you know, we created that connection just like we're both kind of quiet.

04:53 - So we just do our own thing.

04:54 - Was like him as a partner.

04:56 - It's all right.

04:58 - Everything.

04:59 - I mean, the rest, the rest of it.

05:00 - Our team, they were doing it all, doing good.

05:03 - They were fantastic.

05:05 - But we all

05:06 - we all came together and we worked as a team to win this whole thing.

05:10 - We're the reason that we're here right now.

05:13 - When I threw that, I didn't I thought I was going to miss, but man.

05:16 - But I hit it and I it wasn't for me.

05:20 - We wouldn't even be over here going to say champions,

05:24 - but I did with all my might

05:27 - and I did with my brother told me and I did it.

05:30 - It feels good.

05:35 - I'm the happiest guy in the room today

05:36 - because I walk in here, I hear the fans in the stands.

05:40 - I see the student athletes out there with big smiles on their faces.

05:43 - I see the level of competition each each of these eight schools they want to win.

05:48 - And I love it.

05:49 - Our athletics is open to all.

05:51 - And, with Special Olympics,

05:55 - I think we've carved out a special relationship

05:57 - to be able to show all folks that,

06:02 - competition and athletics is first fun

06:07 - people who get in the athletics because they like it and enjoyment.

06:10 - And then the lessons you learn from athletic competition are lifelong lessons

06:15 - that you can take in not only all walks of life, but the rest of your life.

06:19 - I mean, I encourage everyone to go help with something unified because I love it.

06:22 - It's a great way to. Yeah, just create inclusion.

06:25 - I oh, I did accomplish list why I can accomplish

06:29 - anything I can do in my school years when I graduate.

06:32 - And this this is one of them becoming a champ.

06:36 - And once I graduate, I am going to miss Black Hawk because.

06:40 - I'm glad to be in this sport, I really am.

06:44 - There we go. Yeah.