In 2016, the Nebraska School Activities Association started offering the Special Olympics Unified Sport of bowling for people with intellectual disabilities. The Special Olympics Unified Sports is an inclusive activities program that combines an approximately equal number of Special Olympics individuals with intellectual disabilities and individuals without intellectual disabilities on teams for competition and inclusive activities fostering an environment of social inclusion. With six additional schools this year, a total of 81 schools in Nebraska offer Unified Bowling. Syracuse-Dunbar-Avoca will be classified in Class B with 50 schools. Class A has 31 schools. S-D-A Life Skills Instructor Michelle Zoller is coaching the Rocket team. S-D-A practices at Arbor Lanes in Nebraska City. For the second year, Syracuse was granted $300 to pay for equipment, costs, and overall support through the Special Olympics Nebraska. The school provides transportation and a bowling shirt. Unified Bowling requires a minimum of three team members (at least one athlete and two partners). Up to five members are allowed on a team (two substitutions). Schools may have an unlimited number of teams and participants. Again this season Jaydon Nichols is the athlete. His partners on the team will vary between Eliza Bennett, Michael Behling, Barrett Bischoff, Connor Thompson, and Jared Panko. Jaydon’s mom, Paula Nichols appreciates the program, “It’s always such a great time. The athletes and partners cheer and show great support for each other. When someone bowls a strike, it doesn’t matter which team you’re on, there’s a loud “yay” or “woohoo” from the entire crowd. It means so much to them!” Coach Michelle Zoller comments, “This is our second year participating in Unified Bowling. We have another great group of partners. It is a little different this year as last year we had all female partners. This year we have five peers, four male and one female, who have volunteered to be Jaydon’s partners. The format of unified bowling presents challenges for the competitive partners. Three people rotate frames to bowl a game for a combined score. This allows the partners to feel the challenges some of our athletes feel every day. This group is competitive and is always trying to improve and beat each other and last year’s scores. It is fun watching them compete but also making relationships with each other outside of the regular school day.” Many of Jaydon’s partners commented on the activity: “I think unified bowling/sports gets all students involved in activities. Jaydon gets the experience of being on a team and competing. I like seeing the joy on everyone’s face when we are at meets.” Barrett Bischoff “It is a good learning experience for everyone involved.” Connor Thompson “Unified bowling creates an opportunity for our school and community to be more inclusive, and I wanted to be a part of that.” Eliza Bennett Results/Schedule: Saturday, Oct. 26, at Wilbur, Results - 3rd Place Tuesday, Nov. 7, Syracuse Invitational - 5th Place Thursday, Nov. 16 - JCC Invitational Districts: Monday, Nov. 29 - 1:00 at Mockingbird Lanes in Omaha State: Monday, Dec. 4 at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln