NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — Carrie Prill is a speech therapist teacher and head coach of the Warrior Run Unified Bocce Team.
"We actually got the idea from our special education supervisor. She fielded a questionnaire from Special Olympics and the regional coordinator. So we met with her and really from that point there was no turning back," said Carrie.
Part of the Special Olympics Interscholastic Unified Sports program Prill and her 8 member team with 4 athletes and 4 partners rolled into this regional set-up here in Northumberland County last year along with Shikellamy, Danville, Central Columbia and Southern Columbia.
"We had full support. What do you guys need? How can we make this happen? Across the district so everybody just got behind us," again said Carrie.
"It's absolutely amazing to be on this team. To be able to connect with these amazing people is just a great experience to be on this team for the past 2 years," said Nathan.
"This is the highlight of my week every week. It is so much fun to come out here with all the students and just be able to interact with them. And we have formed such a strong bond as a team and it's just such a great time every week," said Emma.
We'll there are 3 rounds here with 30 minutes on the clock. But each round can end with the first team getting to 16.
"They are going to cheer me on. Are you going to win Wyatt? Everyone's to win," said Wyatt.
"I think for us it's encouraging but it's also helpful. If you are struggling they can help us get through it," said Tyler.
The Bocce games are fun and filled with excitement building school support on all levels.
"We all picked it up really quickly. And the amount of effort that we all put into this passes all of my expectations. We thought that this was something small something casual that was going to happen, but we have grown it into something that has become bigger at Warrior Run," said Kayleigh
"Seeing them just take this on and take all of the team members on. I never once had to explain what the mission is or explain what Unified Sports were. They took it on and it just had full steam behind it," added Carrie.
Steve Lloyd Newswatch 16 sports Northumberland County.