Students from Pembroke Hall Primary School were recently given the opportunity to participate in unified bocce alongside athletes from Special Olympics Jamaica (SOJ) at the SOJ’s multi-purpose facility at Independence Park.

The venue was abuzz two Saturdays ago as the Pembroke Hall students competed alongside and against intellectually disabled athletes hailing from Best Care, Maxfield Park Children’s Home, National Children’s Home and Carberry Court.

Michael Baker and Dontay Cotterell won the gold medal; Jasel Morgan and Mark Small captured the silver medal; Rochell Small and Shavante Bailey the bronze; and Dondre Gordon and Dwayne Malabre finished in fourth place.

The event, sponsored by INSPORTS, is the first unified bocce tournament for children under the age of 12 years.

The students from Pembroke Hall were introduced to bocce at the 2017 INSPORTS Summer Camp.

In recent times, the Special Olympics International movement has placed significant emphasis on unified competition, giving people with intellectual disabilities and people without these disabilities the opportunity to share the same space.

SOJ has over 300 young people — all under the age of 12 — that are being focused on to ensure they are exposed to Special Olympics sports programmes.

The local Special Olympics body has committed to having unified bocce as an annual event on its calendar.

Jamaica won gold in bocce at the 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games in Los Angeles, United States. The next World Summer Games is set for next year in Abu Dhabi, United States.