Basketball is a favorite sport among Special Olympics Michigan athletes. Players take it up at all ages and at all abilities, from young players learning to handle the ball to older, more experienced players who have the moves and know the strategies to play challenging ball.
In addition to team competition, Special Olympics Michigan offers individual skills competition and 3 vs. 3 competition, allowing athletes to develop fundamental basketball skills that will help them progress on to team competition.
Special Olympics Basketball also gives athletes the opportunity to compete in Unified team play. Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities to compete together on the same team.
If you are an athlete or coach interested in participating in basketball, select your county on the right to find your area program.
If you are coaching a team please complete the Seasonal Intent Form. This form will assist teams with finding local competition opportunities and does not register you for any tournaments or events.
Due to the popularity of the sport, all teams that compete at the State Basketball Finals must win their division at the District tournament in order to advance to State Finals. District tournaments are held each year in the beginning of March in Caledonia, Mt. Pleasant, Northville, and Saline. Winning teams move on to compete in the State Finals two weeks later at Calvin College in Grand Rapids.
Unified teams compete at the Unified State Finals at the end of February at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Every year approximately 450 athletes attend the State Finals event.
All teams that wish to compete in the District or Unified tournament must register with their area and complete the team evaluation questionnaire. Teams must also submit a minimum of 3 scores from games that they have played against other Special Olympics basketball teams.
