Sports bridges all gaps
Ashley McGettrick found her spot as a partner with Plymouth North’s unified sports program
PLYMOUTH – It all started when Ashley McGettrick walked into the wrong classroom. Four years later she’d still happily walk through that same wrong door again.
“When I was a freshman I was looking for the meeting room for the basketball program because I wanted to try out for the team,” McGettrick remembered. “It turned out that I had walked into the unified basketball meeting room by mistake. After hearing about what the unified program was all about I decided to go with that group instead.
“I guess you could say it was a happy accident that day but I’ve really had a great time as a partner with the unified basketball and track and field programs over the last four years.”
Unified sports is an inclusive sports program that unites athletes who have intellectual disabilities with partners from their high school in athletic competition. It was brought to the town a few years ago by former Plymouth North Athletic Director Tom Angelo, and the individual programs at North as well as Plymouth South continue to grow in numbers each season.
Lauren Allen directs the unified sports program at Plymouth North. She said that people like McGettrick are what makes the program special for everyone involved.
“Ashley is an absolutely wonderful person to have as a mentor for this program,” said Allen. “She is caring and compassionate and you can see really cares about people. She’s the type of person who doesn’t see the ‘dis’ in ‘disability’. She only sees the ‘ability’.”
Allen continued, “The social aspect of unified sports is just as important as the athletic component, and Ashley was the person on the basketball and track teams that would bring everyone together on the bus rides and make everyone felt like they were an important part of the team.
“She really is what you want this program to be all about.”
McGettrick said her time with the unified sports program has taught her what athletic competition and being a good teammate are all about. The teams get together a couple of times a week for practices in-season and have five or six games against other local programs.
“I’ve loved my time with the unified sports program. I’ve met so many great people that I may not have had the chance to know otherwise,” McGettrick said. “I’ve learned so much about the real spirit of competition is all about from each of the people that I’ve been partnered with over the last few years.”
McGettrick is a true mentor in the classroom and on the athletic field. She’s ranked third academically in the Class of 2020 and is a member of the National Honor Society, the Foreign Language Honor Society and the Music Honor Society. She will attend Roger Williams University in the fall where she will study psychology.
Email the reporter at dwolcott@wickedlocal.com and follow him on Twitter, @David Wolcott1.
