Manchester’s Champions Together Program Kicks Off NORTH MANCHESTER – It began with the IHSAA meetings last year, where athletic director for Manchester Community Schools Eric Screeton learned about the Champions Together Initiative.
The director of the statewide initiative is Lee Lonzo, who oversees the partnership between the IHSAA (Indiana High School Athletic Association) and Special Olympics Indiana. Lonzo will also oversee the partnership between Champions Together and Manchester High School.
“It was an absolute necessity that we get this [program] off the ground,” said Screeton, who recognizes Erica Vogel of the special education department and school resource officer Nate Birch as the ideal coaches for this year’s season.
There will be 42 teams across the state competing in Unified Flag Football. Indiana also has Unified Track and is looking to add bowling and bocce ball as well. Since Manchester’s program is in its first year, there is only one game date scheduled as of now.
Four area schools—Wabash, North Miami, Tippecanoe Valley and Manchester—will gather to have a Unified Flag Football Night on Thursday, Sept. 26. This year’s event is hosted by Tippecanoe Valley. Screeton says Wabash is likely to host in 2020, with Manchester following as the host in 2021.
According to the rules and regulations of Champions Together Unified Sports, flag football teams are to have no more than three United student athletes and two Unified student partners on the field at a time. All teams are co-ed. Safety is the primary consideration, as flag football is a non-contact sport; stationary “screen blocking” is allowed, but no moving blocks.
Games consist of 20-minute halves with one timeout per team in each half and are played with a Wilson youth football on a field that is 60-by-25 yards in size.
The Champions Together program aims to combine students “with or without intellectual disabilities on the same team for sports training and competition. Special Olympics Indiana is considered a world leader in development of these programs…since 1989.”
Sectional play will begin in the first week of October, said Screeton, who thanked Lonzo, former Tippecanoe Valley principal Chad Cripe, and IHSAA commissioner Bobby Cox for their help in getting the program started.
Screeton added that the athletic department at MCS is “so excited to be a part of Champions Together” and to partner with IHSAA and the Special Olympics.
