SOMO News

COLUMBIA – Four Special Olympics Missouri (SOMO) Unified basketball teams competed at the Zou Jam NIRSA Regional Championship at the MizzouRec on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.

SOMO has statewide partnership with the University of Missouri System, the University of Missouri and MU Health Care! For more information on our partnership, click here!

“I was delighted to see our teams engage in spirited competition against great opponents,” Unified Champion Schools Manager Emma Thomas said. “It truly made for a remarkable day!”

SOMO had three teams from MU and one team from UMKC competing this year. The standings from the competition are below

• 1^st place – University of Iowa 

• 2^nd place – Mizzou Unified Gold

• 3rd/4^th place – UMKC Unified, Mizzou Unified Yellow

• 5^th Place – Mizzou Unified Black

Unified intramural sports are organized by NIRSA members and university students on campuses across the country. Unified Sports bring together people with and without intellectual disabilities through a common interest – sports.

The Unified Sports division was introduced to the NIRSA Championship Series in 2011, leading to a partnership with Special Olympics in 2016. NIRSA offers Unified Sports divisions at regional and national levels in basketball, soccer, flag football and esports.

For more information on Unified Sports and Unified Champion Schools, please visit somo.org/ucs.