Cleveland Browns host Special Olympics Ohio Unified Sports uniform reveal and football clinic
As the Cleveland Browns prepared to host their inaugural Special Olympics Ohio Unified Sports Uniform Reveal and Play Football! Clinic one of the players was over heard to say, “This goes beyond football.” Truer words could not have been spoken as four members of the Cleveland Browns Quarter Back Baker Mayfield, Defensive Tackle Brandin Bryant, Center Willie Wright and Quarter Back Garret Gilbert used a portion of their day off to volunteer for this wonderful event that was held today at the Case Coleman Fieldhouse at the Cleveland Browns Training and Administrative Complex.
The event was part of the Cleveland Browns Give Back commitment to youth and high school football as they hosted high school Unified Sorts Flag Football athletes, coaches and volunteers. For the first time ever the Cleveland Browns have partnered with Special Olympics Ohio to creat the very first NFL sponsored Unified Sports League that consists ofseven northeast Ohio High Schools: Max Hayes, Lincoln West, John Marshall, Lorain, Avon, Rocky River and Avon Lake.
The event began with the seven teams revealing their new uniforms which all came with a very noticeable brown, orange and white stripes on the sleeve that will link the seven teams forever to the Cleveland Browns. After the group photo the various teams broke off to participate in a youth football clinic with Browns staff members and players running the various challenges.
The Cleveland Browns also donateda $5,000 Browns PLAY 60 Grant to be used to launch the Unified Flag Football initiative in Northeast Ohio. This will allow athletes and Unified Partners from local high schools to participate in this year’s pilot program that will provide opportunities for students with or without disabilities to play football on the same team.
Unified Sports is an inclusive sports program whose goal is to unite Special Olympic athletes (individuals with intellectual disabilities) and partners (individual without intellectual disabilities) as teammates for training and competition. The Cleveland Browns First and Ten initiative is strongly present during the event as volunteers from all of the participating organizations, including University Hospital staff members #give10 in order to create special memories for the participants.
The Cleveland Browns Give Back Program is dedicated to #give10 as part of the team’s First and Ten initiative. The program was launched in June of 2014 as a community program that is the first one of its kind in the entire NFL. The program encourages fans to go to the Cleveland Browns web site, click on “Community” and “First and Ten” to take the pledge to give ten hours of community volunteer service in the next twelve months. Once the pledge has been fulfilled the fan is invited back to share their experience. This is yet another way that the Cleveland Browns unifies the team and its entire fan base worldwide. For more information visit www.clevelandbrowns.com/brownsgiveback..
Another aspects of the program is the Cleveland Browns commitment to improving the quality of education for students in Ohio by encouraging school attendance. Their newest venture is the “Get 2 School, Stay in the Game!” Network.
The “Get 2 School” Network is a statewide initiative designed to promote the importance of school attendance and put an end to chronic absenteeism. The team engages local schools and promotes quality education by using attendance data and feedback from families to build a school-going culture, uncover and reduce common barriers to attendance and support engagement opportunities for students to thrive. To learn more, visit Get2School.org.
Along with this program, the Cleveland Browns have committed themselves to assist the development, safety and growth of youth and high school football in the Northeast Ohio area. This includes year-round programs for players, coaches, officials and parents with camps clinics and other initiatives. The goal is to promote healthy, social, emotional, intellectual and physical development of youth through opportunities in youth football participation and education.