Woodhaven-Brownstown highlights Unified Sports growth and winter athletics participation

At the March 11 meeting of the Woodhaven-Brownstown School District Board of Education, Unified Sports staff and the district’s athletic directors reported program growth, strong community support and plans for spring Unified track and fitness events.

Unified Sports coordinator Alicia Flynn told the board the district’s Unified program — which pairs students with and without intellectual disabilities on the same teams — serves students in grades 7–12 and runs unified bowling in the fall, unified basketball in winter and unified track and field in the spring. “We really are the unified family,” Flynn said, describing the program’s mix of athletes and partners and the program’s emphasis on inclusion and long‑term relationships.

Flynn said the district split its unified basketball season into two teams to increase playing time and identified six graduating unified seniors. She listed coaching staff and volunteers who support the program and described a series of events the program took part in this year: a skills clinic, a shortened-game tournament at Lincoln Park High School, the Unified Showcase at Little Caesars Arena and the annual unified Warriors vs. Woodhaven Police Department fundraising game. Flynn said the program will host unified fitness days in March, hold a parent meeting on April 8 and plans a downriver unified track meet this spring for Unified teams only.

Brad Ray, a physical education teacher and assistant coach, described the skills-and-drills clinic that kicks off the season and said the program has become a multiyear participation pathway for many students. “We probably had a hundred to a 50 kids in our gym just having fun,” Ray said of one clinic (transcript text). Coach John Drumm and others noted the size of the community turnout for the Police Department game and thanked transportation, volunteers and other school teams for supporting Unified events.

The board also heard broader winter-sports reports from Jared Nichols, the district’s middle school athletic director, and Keith Sagle, Woodhaven High School’s athletic director. Nichols summarized middle school participation, coaching staffing and survey efforts: this winter the middle school ran seven teams with 13 coaches; total middle‑school athletic participation fell from 155 last year to about 141 this year, a drop Nichols said partly reflected fewer sixth graders in swim. Nichols said the district conducted midseason and end‑of‑season surveys (about 41 of 140 students responded to the end‑of‑season survey) and is working to raise response rates.

Sagle said high school winter athletics included roughly 242 athletes (133 boys, 109 girls) and highlighted team academic performance and postseason recognition: girls basketball was league champion with a 3.62 team GPA, swimming placed third in the league and individual athletes earned all‑league honors. He also described a new mentorship resource for coaches and plans to incorporate surveys into group meetings to boost response rates.

Board members asked about survey anonymity and whether removing the sport identifier would increase responses; Sagle said keeping the sport tag lets staff target improvements at specific programs. Multiple coaches and board members praised the Unified program’s inclusion work and its volunteer base.

The district said it will provide more information about the planned Unified track meet and upcoming parent meeting as details are finalized.