From the Coach’s Perspective: Making Interscholastic Sports Inclusive for Students With and Without Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Competing in interscholastic sports is a valuable and normative experience for high school student athletes, providing a range of benefits that enhance well-being. Yet the opportunities for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) to play high school sports, although growing in recent years, remain mostly limited to the intramural level. This study focuses on the coaches of an interscholastic high school sports program offered to students with and without IDD who competed on the same team. Based on 29 interviews with 18 Unified Track-and-Field coaches from eight different teams, as part of a larger impact evaluation study of Unified Interscholastic Sports, this study shows how coaches created and facilitated the competitive environment that is vital to interscholastic sports while being inclusive of student athletes with and without IDD. Furthermore, the inclusion of youth with IDD in interscholastic sports positively contributed to the school culture and visibility in the community.