#110: Abby the Bad Sport
We all know Abby is obsessed with soccer, so it’s no surprise when she joins the Stoneybrook United team as a part of the Special Olympics Unified Sports program. (I’m a teacher and my school has an awesome Unified Sports program, so I think this is great.) In Unified Sports, students with and without intellectual disabilities play on the same team, working together and promoting friendship and respect. The BSC and other kids in Stoneybrook think it’s great, too, and they form a SB United Booster Club, through which they’ll raise money for the team and cheer them on at games.
Abby is a great athlete with a deep love of the game and experience working with and helping others, so she’s a good candidate for Unified, except for one thing: Abby is hyper-competitive and loves being the star. That’s not really what Unified is all about. And so when Abby gets what she considers a “demotion” from forward to fullback, she’s a little rankled. She clashes with Erin, the girl who got her job as center forward, and kiiiiind of turns into a total asshole.
Eventually Abby’s selfish behavior hurts her team and leads her to almost come to blows with Erin, her teammate with intellectual disabilities who she calls “stupid” as they almost punch each other. Abby’s coach rightly benches them both for two games. Abby is pissed but we all know she deserves it. The benching is actually the best thing that happens, even though she gets into a fight with Kristy and skips out on a trip to her dad’s grave. Abby actually learns to appreciate her teammates and their attitudes and she even comes to stay in her lane as a defender.
In the end, Abby and Erin make up and get back in the game, Abby and Kristy make up in a very anticlimactic way (no kissing), and Abby resolves to visit her father’s grave — she’ll leave behind her old lucky cleats, tell him about who she is now, and move forward. And, somewhere along the way, make a bunch of puns.
