Yelm High School Unified Sports head coach Emily McIntire has seen the program grow exponentially since taking over in 2018 during its inaugural season.
What makes her smile the most isn’t the number of athletes or teams but how student athletes with intellectual disabilities are included in the school’s culture.
“This has been so good for our school, our presence in our building. We’re way more of an inclusive school now,” said McIntire, who also works as a functional life skills teacher at YHS. “We’re in assemblies. It’s great for our athletes, but it’s been amazing for our peers.”
McIntire praised the students without intellectual disabilities, known as partners or peers within the Special Olympics program, for helping the student athletes feel like rockstars on the field.
“They are really, really quality kids who are coming out and learning to do something bigger than themselves, donating their time and becoming really good friends,” she said. “We have kids that are hanging out in the summers now with our athletes, which might not have happened before this time. To see my students and these awesome peers making our school a better school, it’s been very cool.”
The Unified soccer program featured three teams — competitive, intermediate and beginners. In total, 20 athletes competed with 15 partners. After the Tornados’ season finale at South Sound Stadium on Saturday, May 4, McIntire said she saw a “huge improvement” from all three groups in different ways.
“Our beginners group’s enthusiasm, on a dry day, was huge. We had a lot of cardio by the end of each day getting down to the other end of the field,” she said. “Our intermediate group really worked on passing, which was awesome. And then our competitive team, they’re a very good team, so they were working on some more specialized plays this year. It was good to see them figure that out, and they were very effective in getting their goals.”
Yelm’s Unified team is the biggest in its league, which is composed of North Thurston, River Ridge, Olympia, Timberline and Tumwater high schools. The group of Yelm families also seemed to be the loudest in the stands despite a rainy day during the season finale, McIntire said.
“We have the best families. We really do. They bring out signs. One of our students, it was his final game today, and he was with me in 2018 when we started,” she said. “His mom printed out a big poster of his head, and she brought it today to have it signed in his final game. It’s everything to have these families follow us for up to seven years. We said goodbye to four athletes playing their final games, and the families are emotional about it like the coaches are.”
McIntire also coaches the unified basketball team, which has also seen considerable growth since 2019, when there was just one team. This year, the school boasted three teams and is close to adding a fourth. She said that one of her biggest goals is to foster an inclusive environment and to give every athlete a chance to shine.
“I teach our athletes that they can do anything, that they are included with everybody and that they can participate in anything and go out there and be a part of our community,” McIntire said. “For our peers, we teach them selflessness, how to be inclusive and how to help somebody reach their full potential.”
