When Andrew High School seniors Scott Oftedahl and Montrell Sippel met about a year ago, they had no idea that their new friendship would soon be taking them to Washington, D.C.
The duo has been selected to represent Special Olympics Illinois at the national level and will travel to D.C. for Lobby Day in February.
“We’re the first to be selected to go to Washington,” Sippel said. “We’re going to lobby in front of different legislators to help get support for the Special Olympics.”
They met last winter and were named team captains of the Unified Sports basketball team at the school in Tinley Park.
“Montrell came in during junior year and we met and started seeing each other at different programs and clubs,” Oftedahl said. “We got to know each other playing Unified together and have grown closer as teammates and friends.”
Their efforts include advocating for Special Olympics Unified Sports, a program in which they’ve thrived at Andrew. They hope to see Unified Sports continue its current offerings while expanding so that others can reap the rewards.
Unified Sports programs allow student-athletes with intellectual disabilities to be teammates with student-athletes without disabilities to compete in a variety of sports, including basketball, soccer and track and field. Andrew is one of several Special Olympics Illinois Unified Champion high schools. Others in the region include Homewood-Flossmoor in Flossmoor, Thornton Township in Harvey, Shepard in Palos Heights, Eisenhower in Blue Island, Richards in Oak Lawn, Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights and Mother McAuley in Chicago. Several area elementary and middle schools also offer unified sports.
Oftedahl and Sippel already had some experience with advocating on behalf of Unified Sports as members of the Unified Generation Committee. This group of athletes meets monthly with other student-athlete pairs like themselves.
“You get to meet other people and learn inclusivity and respect,” Sippel said. “It’s very cool to keep on going back there and learning more different things you hadn’t learned before. It’s good to learn more about how to respect people and inclusivity.”
Last spring, the partners took part in lengthy conversations with representatives from Special Olympics Illinois, which requested their presence on the committee.
The experience not only afforded them the opportunity to begin new friendships with other athletes and partners across the state, but to also learn how to be an inclusive leader, how to continue to foster relationships that promote inclusion beyond high school, how to navigate today’s world through social media and more.
Now, they’ll head to the U.S. Capitol.
“They are literally making history as the first partners to be part of this committee,” said Nowal Shalash, a special education teacher at Andrew who also is a Special Olympics coach. “These boys, they are the most perfect pair for this. They embody what it means to be a Unified pair, inside and out. They’re leaders who their friends look up to, and who their friends model after. There’s no prompting; it comes so naturally. So it’s going to be super cool for Lobby Day in D.C.”
Lawmakers in D.C. will get a first-hand account from the pair about how being just one of a dozen schools in Illinois to be named a National Unified Champion Banner School by Special Olympics North America is impacting their student body.
“They’re genuine, good human beings and are being able to showcase that,” Shalash said. “You don’t typically see this with the way they have motivated their peers. Kids are following them. They’re attending all our games.”
Others have certainly taken note.
“From the get-go, Scott and Montrell created an incredible friendship and that is the foundation of their entire relationship,” Shalash said. “The two of them possess leadership qualities, and when they are together it’s just this unstoppable pair.”
These leaders lead while loving participating in sports with their peers.
“Montrell is a great leader and he will ask how your day is and is very outspoken,” Oftedahl said. “On the court he can take command, runs practices well and demands a good work ethic from other people. And as a person, he’s an A+ guy, always willing to reach out whenever. He’s a great family man. He met my aunt one time and texted her ‘Happy Thanksgiving!’”
Sippel said his partner always has his back as well as the backs of others.
“He’s a great guy and he always will check up on you if you’re down and ask them if they’re okay,” he said. “He’s a very great leader.”
Both are leading their fellow student-athletes toward fun adventures on the court and away from it as friendships are blooming thanks to the growth of Unified Sports.
“You don’t have to be a basketball player to hop on a court and play,” Oftedahl said. “We can all play together at varying athletic and physical abilities. It’s a great opportunity to compete. We’re always going hard in practice and games and trying to improve. Unified Sports has allowed us to come together, and is a great time.”
So many lessons for navigating life have already been shared thanks to Andrew achieving Special Olympics Unified Champion School recognition.
“We get to meet other people from other schools and show respect around the very competitive sports while trying to go for a win,” Sippel said. “At the same time we all respect each other. If we fall or get injured, we help each other up. What I love most about Unified (Sports) is you learn to help others. You learn to keep your head up. And to keep trying to do your best at what you do.”
And they’ll do their best to pass that message on when they soon head to D.C.
C.R. Walker is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
