By KEVIN THORNTON
BRANDON—What really matters about sports? 2025 Southern Vermont League Unified Basketball Coach of the Year Brooke Kimball of Otter Valley said, “I love how much joy it brings.” But she’d rather let her players do the talking, so let’s hear from a few of them:
Madison Mitchell said, “It makes me happy to connect with other teams and honored and special to play with them.” (Note the “with.”)
Brianna Hutchins just said she likes all the sports she plays. She’s modest. On the other hand, she doesn’t disagree when Brooke added that she’s developed into a “top scorer.” Hey, it ain’t bragging if it’s true.
Jeremiah Shaw happily said that he likes basketball but added that he likes snowshoeing best of all. (More about that later.)
Logan Korson, a born chatterbox, got right to the point. “Before I met the team,” he said, “there was a big void in my heart. I tried to fill it with family and food and stuff, but nothing worked until I joined the basketball team… and I met Mrs. Kimball.”
The unified program allows Special Education athletes the opportunity to compete in a variety of sports against teams from other schools. Unified basketball is the big one right now. It’s a varsity sport sanctioned by the Vermont Principals Association. Students also compete in bocce and snowshoeing jamborees, which explains Jeremiah’s preference. Unified soccer will begin this coming season. As of the 2025-26 school year, unified athletes will have the chance to play a sport from September to May. Kimball is the first-ever Coach of the Year honoree.
Kimball, an OV Special Education teacher, first got involved in unified sports in 2017, when she had a student who loved basketball and wanted to play for his school. Along with OV Athletic Director Steven Keith she “threw a season together,” adding, “I think it went well.”
That appears to be a major understatement. “Brooke’s commitment and dedication to making the program succeed is beyond measure,” said Keith. “That coaching award is voted on by peers. It’s the utmost compliment when your peers vote for you. For her to be the first coach honored is a pretty large statement.”
Keith has a soft spot in his heart for unified. Asked what he loves best about it he said, “the sportsmanship level—natural sportsmanship without being forced [even though] these are competitive games. You can’t leave the gym after a unified game without feeling good about being a part of it.”
Parents feel the same way. Katie Mitchell, Madison’s mom, can’t compliment the program enough. She carved out part of her day just to talk about it and spoke with a sense of urgency, because she wanted to convey how important unified sports have been for her entire family. “As a parent involved in unified sports for the past five years,” she said, “I’ve seen firsthand how powerful this program is. This program shows what happens when inclusion is more than just a word, it’s a way of life. The program breaks down barriers and fosters genuine connection across differences. It’s not just about competition—it’s about connection. The program creates a space where each student can shine. It allows everyone to be a star. It allows everyone to get recognition. Brooke does a tremendous job.”
Brooke, for her part, said her “greatest pleasure” as a coach is witnessing the pride of her players’ parents.
Inclusion, it is easy to forget, is a two-way street. Everyone gains from it. “We start seeing it in the hallway and the cafeteria,” says Kimball. “We see it spill over.”
Unified basketball includes “partner athletes,” who share the court with their special-needs teammates. By rule, partner athletes can’t rebound, shoot, or steal the ball. Their job is to advance the ball up the court by passing to open teammates and otherwise helping game flow. Addison Boynton, who played both on the unified team and on the OV varsity boys’ team last season, said the best thing about unified was “being there for the kids, helping them out and making them feel like they can do basketball and making them happy about the sport.” Despite his own busy schedule, he always made sure to make unified practice and stay to the end. What he got out of it, he said, was “making friendships.” “There were a lot of favorite moments,” he says. “A lot of them.”
The ordinary things that go with sports became special, too. Logan, who likes to eat, mentions how much he liked stopping for meals after the away games. He spoke rather wistfully about the bus passing the candy store in Middlebury after the game there, only for his coach to remind him that dedicated candy stops are not part of the deal.
“It’s a beautiful thing when you see kids build friendships,” said Katie Mitchell. “It’s huge. These athletes do so well because they have Brooke behind them supporting them one hundred percent. It’s easy for them to play their hearts out when they have Brooke and the community behind them.”
What’s next for the OV unified sports program is expansion. Brooke’s short-term goal is to get OV recognized as a National Banner School for supporting inclusion. “I definitely want that to happen.” In addition, she wants to build up the OV Unified Club, continue to welcome students from schools like West Rutland and Proctor that are too small to have unified teams of their own, increase the number of partner athletes, and “start getting younger students involved.”
So, what really matters about sports? Competition, sure. Winning, absolutely. And then there’s building confidence. Making friends. Enjoying a meal with teammates after a game. Representing your school. Being part of something bigger than yourself. “My hero is Brooke Kimball,” said Madison. “Unified makes me connected to my community. I find that so cool. I love doing unified sports.”
They call soccer “the beautiful game.” But maybe it’s time to make room for Unified Basketball. See you in the gym next season.
