Dobyns-Bennett Building Strong Unified Sports Foundation
Dobyns-Bennett’s Unified Sports program continues to roll along, as the track and field team posted a runner-up finish in the recent TSSAA state meet in Murfreesboro.
Unified Sports allow intellectually disabled students to compete alongside general-education students in sports like track, bowling, and flag football.
D-B’s bowling team also posted a second-place state finish earlier this year, and Special Education Athletic Director Nick Lingerfelt said participation has been on the rise.
“Year two was a great success for our program,” Lingerfelt said. “Last year we had around 14 participants in track and field, and this year it almost doubled. People want to participate.”
The Dobyns-Bennett track team finished behind Bartlett, a program that has been going strong for six years, Lingerfelt said.
“They have a great program,” he said. “The guy down there has been doing it for several years. They don’t have anybody to compete against in the state, so they sometimes have to go outside of Tennessee.”
Lingerfelt said the Indians’ competitors didn’t know how well they had done in the day-long competition.
“It was crazy because we were packing up to get ready to go back home,” Lingerfelt said. “And they called and told us we had about a minute to get the group to the podium because we had finished second. We had to run back out there and get the runner-up trophy. It was another wonderful experience.”
In Unified Sports for track and field, the competitors’ efforts are combined to see who wins. For example, in the long jump, a general-education student and a special-ed student jump separately. The average of the two distances creates the total for placement in the standings. And in timed events, it’s an average of the two times.
Lingerfelt said one of the highlights of the trip came when the group got to eat at a nice restaurant.
“It may not have been possible without the support of all our sponsors, especially the Dobyns-Bennett general education athletic department taking care of the meals, hotel, and transportation,” Lingerfelt said. “They paid for all of it, and we appreciate it.”
Lingerfelt said the way things worked out for the competition was a neat deal.
“When we did the field events, the crowd was very small,” Lingerfelt said. “But after the lunch break, when we did the running events, the stadium was packed. The people in the stands started cheering for the unified athletes and their partners. It was a very special moment to hear everybody cheering for them.
“This is the best program I’ve ever been a part of.”
