Special education history teacher Von Corpuz and his Special Olympics basketball team of 17 students enter the gym when the homeroom bell rings at 10:34 a.m. Dribbling basketballs and catching up with friends, they warm up for practice. It’s their court now.
Special Olympics is a global sports movement that strives to create inclusive sports teams for athletes with intellectual disabilities. When Corpuz transferred to CHS after five years of teaching at Marshall High School and coaching their Special Olympics unified basketball team, he was struck by the absence of accessible sports at his new school.
“To be able to teach the fundamentals and the basics of basketball, I loved doing that and I loved seeing that with this population,” Corpuz said. “And then, when I came here, at Chantilly, I was like, ‘wait, we don’t have that?’ And they were like, ‘we don’t have that.’ So I was like, ‘how cool is it to be able to be one of the first people to start it up?”
At the start of his second year at CHS, Corpuz connected with other special education teachers who shared his vision to bring Special Olympics to CHS, so they could make it a reality. To avoid establishing a new program during the already-busy start to the school year, the teachers opted to begin with a winter sport, like basketball. Additionally, in the interest of fostering inclusion, they chose a unified team.
The Special Olympics defines a unified team as one where intellectually disabled athletes play alongside neurotypical partners. In basketball, this consists of three athletes and two partners on each side of the court.
“This community loves sports,” Corpuz said. “And from what I heard with Best Buddies, they are also very passionate about working with students with disabilities, and so I wanted to see that in an athletic environment. I think adding the sports part in it and the competition, I see students being very excited about it.”
Corpuz has organized joint practices with the varsity girls basketball team and says he is looking to plan events that include even more of the school community. Freshman athlete Derick Colandria says he joined the team for the community: he thought it looked like fun.
Senior Luke Argel joined as a partner. It made perfect sense for him, not only because of his passion for athletics, but his passion for helping people, too.
“I really like basketball; that was one of the main reasons I joined,” Argel said. “I had never seen this before, so I thought it was really interesting and really fun to do, especially since I love sports and I love helping people. I have family members that are also differently-abled, and so I feel like I have some expertise in helping out with them and doing those kinds of things.”
Since the start of the season, unified basketball has competed in two tournaments. Out of the four games the team played, they won two against Independence and Dominion.
“It went good, but on the second game, we lost against Marshall,” Colandria said. “[To do even better next time, I will] probably make more three-pointers.”
According to Corpuz and Argel, the addition of a unified basketball team represents more than a game. It’s a catalyst that has the potential to spark a big change in the community.
“Being here the three previous years without it, I feel like this is a great way to get the athletes more integrated with the community,” Argel said. “Doing this has really made me have a different perspective on those people, people I don’t normally interact with very much and now I’m interacting with them a lot more. I feel like that just brings together the inclusivity of the school even more and builds an even stronger community.”
