Salem School District

When Dominic Martino takes to the court as part of Salem High School’s Unified Sports Basketball team this winter, his goal will be more than scoring points against the opponent. He’s there to support his team mates with intellectual disabilities as a Unified Student Partner and fellow athlete.

Martino, a star football player and recipient of Salem High School’s 2022 Fall Male Athlete of the Year award, is one of 4 partners on Salem School District’s first Unified Sports team. After learning about the program, he decided to join the team “because I can help people play a team sport and feel involved.”

Salem High School Athletic Director Scott Insinga brought the Unified Sports program to Salem in hopes of building school spirit around the celebration of non-traditional athletes. “It’s amazing to see how much pride the students get from representing their school.”

Lilly Sacco, a SHS senior and another partner athlete on the team, sees this school spirit first hand. “I’m in unified PE and the kids always make my day,” she said.

“The benefit for me is being a part of something new for the school and being able to see everybody play a sport and be happy.” -- Lilly Sacco, SHS senior and partner athlete

The quest for a state championship kicked off on January 11 when the team hosted their first opponent, Nashua North, in the Davis Gym at SHS. This is an official New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association (NHIAA) sport within the state’s developmental division, according to Insinga. “Games are competitive with an official referee,” he said. “The schedule includes four games—two home and two away. We will play teams from Nashua North and South, Londonderry, and Dover.”  

SHS Physical Education/Health Instructor Mack Kraines will coach the 10-person, co-ed team of six athletes and four partners. As a high school soccer and tennis coach, Kraines is looking forward to this new challenge. “I believe this is a great opportunity for the high school to be more inclusive in the sports world,” he said.

Like any basketball game, teams send five athletes on the court – three of these are Unified athletes and two are partners. “While their might be a certain latitude given for certain situations, it’ll be very much like a traditional basketball game,” Insinga explained.

In fact, according to the NHIAA guidelines, “We must have high expectations for students with intellectual disabilities because if we do not, we are teaching another generation of regular education students that people with intellectual disabilities can’t follow rules or be held accountable and as a result they will not be viable members of their community or society in general.”

Insinga received a grant to fund the program this winter, and funding for the program was recently approved by the Salem School Board as part of next year’s operating budget.