Students from Bert Church and St. Martin de Porres High Schools participated in a fun tournament yesterday (May 23rd ) for Special Olympics Alberta.

The annual 3 on 3 Unified Basketball Tournament was held in Calgary, which puts students with Special Olympics athletes to compete in a fun Basketball event.

Teacher Ian Ferguson from Bert Church High School says his students greatly enjoyed the experience.

“They had had a blast, it’s all smiles at the end of the day, the bus ride was raucous and rowdy. Mark Tewksbury spoke during the opening ceremonies. Both our teams did very well, we saw improvement even throughout the day in terms of the way they played, shot the ball, worked together, it was awesome.”

The biggest payoff of all though was seeing the students build relationships that go well beyond the court.

“It’s a chance for kids who don’t necessarily run in the same circles to get to know one another, to play sport and get connected through that experience,” says Ferguson, “I’ve seen it connect to our hallways, long after the unified events that we got to have taken place. It’s been an amazing addition to athletics here at Bert Church.”

Ferguson goes on to say that this year’s event was the biggest that Calgary has seen so far.

The fun won’t stop there for the unified sports, as Ferguson will be sending a team to the Special Olympics Bocce Tournament in Ontario early next week.

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