In the early 2010s, the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers partnered with their local Special Olympics chapters to put together Unified soccer teams to face one another in a rivalry match.
From there, other teams began to organize their own Unified teams and it quickly grew to a league-wide partnership between the MLS and the Special Olympics.
In 2015, the New England Revolution partnered with Special Olympics of Massachusetts to have their own Unified team. In the 10 years since its inception, the program has grown into something much more than the two matches played between another MLS Unified team.
“Where it really took off for us was once we started having those conversations with the Revolution about how we could activate on this kind of directive partnership, we realized there was some real potential for the local market and the Special Olympics chapter to do some real good around raising awareness for Unified sports,” SOMA Assistant Vice President of Development, Brand and Marketing Charles Hirsch said.
“And leveraging that for not just for a cool opportunity for 12 to 20 Special Olympics participants, but actually using it to market what inclusive sports can do for a community and what inclusive sports can do for the individual and how to take marketing approach and public awareness approach, to it versus just kind of putting on a match once or twice a year.”
With that emphasis on the marketing and greater arenas of the program, the Revs Unified team has seen a steady increase in turnout.
When the program first began, however, Hirsch said finding the players they wanted for the program was a bit tricky.
“There’s definitely a broader awareness from the age group that we focus on for the Unified team,” Hirsch said. “Historically, with Special Olympics Massachusetts, most of our soccer athletes are kind of in their mid-20s and older. Most of our school age participants who are experiencing Special Olympics through their schools play track and basketball.
“Finding soccer players in this age range, we try to stick between 16 and 23, was a little bit of a challenge early on.”
To solve this, Hirsch said the program recruited heavily and relied on the relationships already built by SOMA. Hirsch said that not all the players that were approached were necessarily soccer players to start, but they were all talented athletes.
Some of the athletes were participating in other Unified sports when they were told about the potential to play with the Revs.
Since then, the size of and interest in the program has exploded. The increase in popularity not only benefits the Unified community as a whole, but it ensures the best possible on-field product as well.
“We just fast forward 10, 11 years, and we hosted a Unified soccer practice and for the first time maybe ever, we had so many Unified partners try out that we had to turn away a bunch of them,” Hirsch said. “That means you get to pick the most passionate and best players, and those who really believe in the mission of inclusive sports.”
Even when they have to tell some partners and athletes they can’t make it, Hirsch knows it only gives the participants a reason to improve for next year.
“A cool thing that I’ve seen is you see players come out, and maybe didn’t make the team in the past, but they’ve now set themselves a goal of trying to make the team and come back for the tryout and see if they’ve improved their skills over previous years,” Hirsch said. “There’s this one athlete that fits the mold that made the team this year, and that part is kind of cool to me. That’s really like old school sports, right? You didn’t make the team, but you’re going to go try harder and come back again.”
Once the partners and athletes try out and the rosters are finalized, they get a Unified experience unique within New England.
This year, before the players signed their contracts with the club, they met Revs coach Caleb Porter and talked with him in the team’s locker room. Donning their new uniforms, they then got to sign their deals in front of friends and family and meet other members of the club like defenders Tanner Beason, Andrew Farrell and Wyatt Omsberg.
Athletes and their partners sign their deals to play for the New England Revolution Unified Soccer Team.New England Revolution
“We can point to this Unified team as an opportunity, if you’re involved in Special Olympics and playing soccer, here’s a way you can reach the highest level, reach the pinnacle, but also on the cool side, you get to play at Gillette Stadium and wear a Revs jersey customized with your name on it,” Hirsch said.
The ceremony and the uniforms are not just for show. The Revs and SOMA have made sure that the Unified program is a serious soccer endeavor.
After tryouts in late March and early April, the team trains weekly, all the way up until the end of their season in August.
“We’re creating a true environment that I would with any elite program, any elite team,” Unified coach Deb Godbout said. “And these are players that are into their teens and into their 20s. I want them to develop — every team has players with slightly different abilities, I want to make sure that everyone is developing and becoming better soccer players at the end, but we talk together, and we create our team goals together and one of our team goals is we want to win.
“Our goals are we want to win both games, but if we don’t, we want to be good sportsmen.”
Godbout has been involved with the team since the beginning, but not always as the head coach.
Godbout first started helping out through the community engagement side of New England’s academy where she assisted in the clinics the team ran. From there she got involved with the Unified sessions, either setting it up or running it directly.
“The key thing for (Special Olympics) is that we ran it like any other clinic,” Godbout said. “It didn’t matter who was on the field, we knew they were soccer players and athletes so we were going to run it like any clinic in any other organization or program.”
After the team’s first head coach had to step down, Godbout was asked about potential candidates within the academy to replace him.
Taking some time to think it over, Godbout offered herself up for the position, and she’s been there for the last four years.
“I love it, I’ve been coaching for many years now, I’ve had tons of teams — whether it’s at the collegiate level, the club level, the town level,” Godbout said. “This is one of my favorites to work with, it always has. There are personalities that are incredible, the players are competitive, they’re soccer fans. We typically train on a Sunday, and if the Revs have played Saturday night, they talk about the game and they don’t hold back on their opinions.
“They are true soccer fans and that’s on the athletes and the partners side. I just really enjoy working with the team, creating a nice competitive, fun environment for them that’s going to challenge them and hopefully get them to develop as players.”
Like any other team, the Revs Unified squad has its veterans. When Godbout took over as the head coach, some players had already been there for several years, and they greatly assisted in her role transition.
Godbout said those veterans have also been able to help out the younger players, whether it’s in tryouts or just in training throughout the year. She also noted that the team has even had alumni come back to show their support to the newer players and their former teammates.
Following a couple months of training, the Unified team will get its first action of the season on Saturday, June 28 against Colorado.
While some Unified teams opt to play their matches before the MLS side does, New England chooses to play after the first team.
“We like to have it after the match because a lot of the fans will stay, you’ll have people from the supporters section coming and they’ll have the drums going for the players and they’re doing the chants they would do during the first team game,” Godbout said. “Then some of the first team players can come out and watch too, which is great.”
Following up the first team, the players get a chance to play on a professional field in front of roaring fans. The athletes also get the same pre-match treatment as the first-team players, something that is still intimidating to some.
“I do think the athletes have a little more confidence coming out while some of the partners get a little more nervous,” Godbout said. “I think the first time it’s nerve-racking because we set it up like the first-team players. They have the lights going, they have the announcements, they walk through the same tunnel as the first team. We make it feel like the first team walk outs so I think it’s a little nerve-racking at first.
“Once they step foot on the field, like any athletes it’s focus time, we’re going for the win.”
