SUAMICO (NBC26) — At Bay Port High School on Tuesday night, the Howard-Suamico School District hosted its first ever Adaptive Sports League soccer game - giving students with differing abilities a chance to play on the big stage.
- The ASL is a league for students with disabilities.
- The HSSD team is made up of eight students, and other high school student athletes help coach.
- The community celebrated the team's first home game with a full student section, the school pep band and cheerleading squad.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
It was your typical high school sports game, with a pep band, cheerleading squad and a loud student section.
But for the athletes in the Bay Port High School gym on Tuesday, the game was anything but typical.
“This is by far the coolest thing I’ve ever seen at a high school," Josh Hundsrucker, a parent of one of the players, said.
Tuesday marked the first home sports game at the Howard-Suamico School District for the Adapted Sports League.
“We want to make sure that there is opportunities for all students, during the school day and beyond," Jennifer Garceau, HSSD assistant superintendent of student services, said. "That sense of belonging, we want all of our students to feel that, and this is a step in the right direction.”
ASL is a league for students with disabilities, and Howard-Suamico is the first district in the Green Bay Area to participate.
“It gives these kids a chance to be in sports like everyone else," Aubrey Friendshuh, a student athlete mentor for the ASL team, said. "They’ve been challenged their whole life, and they finally get to do what they would like to do with everyone else.”
Watch the story here:
The team is led by a 15-member 'Student Athlete Leadership Team.'
“These kids come to all of our sporting events, and to think that they have their own that we can support and rally behind them, especially with the whole community here today, I think it’s honestly amazing," Friendshuh said.
“The thing about them is that they never give up– they'll make a mistake and then they'll go right back at it the next play and they work really hard," Ava Nagel, another student athlete mentor, said.
And on Tuesday, the player’s families got to see that hard work first hand.
“I love the fact that he gets to be included," Hundsrucker said. “Every local school should have something like this, this is pretty awesome."
The HSSD league is modeled after the Fox Valley's ASL. The team will also compete in floor hockey in the winter and wiffle ball in the spring.
The team's schedule can be found here.
