Ithaca High Unified sports continue to thrive

Ithaca has been a bastion of Unified sports, especially over the past few years. For one, the city will host the Special Olympics New York Summer Games for the fourth straight year. At the high school, the state of Unified sports is as strong as ever.

On May 14, Ithaca High School was presented with a banner by Special Olympics NY after renewing its status as National Banner Unified Champion School for four more years. Their status is the highest achievement of Unified sports in the nation, being one of 36 Unified Champion Schools in the state and one of just three in Section IV along with Corning and Horseheads.

“I think it’s just a testament to the Ithaca community and what we have in terms of support and interest,” said Unified basketball coach Jodi Maddren. “The people who were there made it powerful, and it was something special.”

The banner ceremony occurred during the Unified basketball game, and the sport perfectly encapsulates how much Unified sports have grown in the school. Because there was so much interest, the Little Red have two basketball teams for the first time. Maddren coaches one of the teams while Holly Norsen coaches the other.

“It was amazing,” Maddren said. “We had 24 originally signed up. I was talking to [athletic director] Samantha Little, and she said, ‘Well, let’s do two teams.’ And it was kind of late in the game because the schedule had already been set, but they were able to rearrange it pretty quickly to accommodate us. The growing interest in Unified has been outstanding.”

The teams are evenly split, with four to five athletes on each team while the rest are made up of partners. Many of the partners are student-athletes in other varsity sports such as soccer, and the relationship between the athletes and the partners has continued to flourish.

“I’m thinking about partners who have been at it for a few years now, and it’s been delightful to see how they’ve changed and really come to embrace the whole meaning of Unified sports,” Maddren said. “We had a couple at the beginning who didn’t quite understand it, and I think just the experience of playing more and more in the Unified situation has helped them to grow. It’s been fun to watch.”

Basketball is one of four Unified sports currently offered at Ithaca High School along with physical education, bowling, and soccer (which was the most recent addition in 2022). Not only has Unified sports and participation increased schoolwide, it has also seen great strides throughout Section IV and the entire state, especially on the court.

“We were split into two different divisions, so there are teams like Vestal, Binghamton, and Union-Endicott that we unfortunately don’t get to play against during the basketball season,” Maddren said. “But it just seems every year, there’s more and more teams that are coming together and participating in the Unified program.”

Maddren has coached many sports during her time at Ithaca High School, including varsity soccer and flag football and all Unified sports. She has seen plenty of success, highlighted by the Unified bowling team’s back-to-back Section IV titles in 2024 and 2025. But the most rewarding part of coaching Unified doesn’t have to do with the wins and losses.

“The whole concept of Unified brings a whole different meaning to sport and a beautiful meaning to sport,” Maddren said. “I’ve coached other sports for Ithaca too, and it’s just a different flavor altogether. The kids understand a little bit better what togetherness means and working together means. You’re playing with heart more than anything else in a Unified program, and it’s beautiful.”

With such strong support from the students and staff schoolwide, don’t be surprised to see even more Unified sports starting up in the near future.

“I have a cousin who’s a PE teacher in Lake George,” Maddren said. “She coaches the Unified programs there, and they actually have a Unified bocce team. I pitched that to Ms. Little and she actually came back with, ‘What about Unified pickleball?’ So there’s stuff on the horizon.”

As the Unified basketball season wraps up, there’s plenty more fun to be had in Ithaca next month. The Special Olympics NY Summer Games will take place around the city on June 20-21, where more than 1,200 athletes and coaches will compete in seven sports: basketball, bowling, powerlifting, swimming, track and field, tennis, and volleyball.

“It’s because it’s been such a tremendous experience here in Ithaca that they allowed it to happen for one more year,” Maddren said. “[It’s] the volunteers that come out and support and work. Ithaca is a great community for something like that to take place.”

For those interested in volunteering, go to specialolympics-ny.org/community/2025-summer-games and click “Register To Volunteer.”