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By: Jerry Alliston
Special Olympics (SO) Southern Miss along with SO College programs from the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama participated in a flag football tournament in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Dec. 7.
The SO College Tournament was held as part of the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Region II Flag Football Tournament hosted by USM. NIRSA comprises and supports leaders in collegiate recreation to help foster lifelong wellbeing habits of university students and has over 4,500 members that serve over 8 million university students.
SO College Southern Miss was established as a student organization at USM to connect college students and individuals with intellectual disabilities through sports. The objectives of this organization are to create a community of acceptance and respect on the USM campus, assist with the social justice movement of Special Olympics and spread disability awareness and inclusion. SO College is part of Special Olympics Unified Sports that brings people with and without intellectual disabilities together on the same team.
“We are thankful for this opportunity to play that was provided through USM’s Recreational Sports and for the support given by Special Olympics Mississippi Unified Sports,” noted SO College Advisor Scott Mullins. “I couldn’t be more proud of the determination, drive, team work, and sportsmanship that our players exemplified in this tournament. We learned a lot through this experience about ourselves and about each other. We are also proud of Special Olympics athlete, Victor VanEllis, who was recognized as the ‘Most Valuable Player’ for the tournament.”
SO College Southern Miss is an inclusive student organization at The University of Southern Mississippi. SO College is part of the Special Olympics Mississippi Unified Sports Program.
USM’s Institute for Disability Studies has hosted this organization since its inception in 2017. Planned sports each year include flag football, basketball, soccer and Quidditch. For more information about SO College Southern Miss, contact advisor Scott Mullins at scott.mullins@usm.edu or 601.266.6129.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
