{"id":404124,"date":"2026-01-12T06:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T06:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/404124\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T06:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T06:47:14","slug":"first-burnaby-schools-unified-soccer-league-launched-burnaby-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/404124\/","title":{"rendered":"First Burnaby Schools Unified Soccer League Launched – Burnaby Schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The first-ever Unified Soccer league in the District is building community through team.<\/p>\n

In the new league, student athletes with disabilities or diverse abilities play alongside youth leaders. Support is provided by coaches and Education Assistants.<\/p>\n

Jarett Richardson is a coach and teacher at Burnaby Mountain Secondary. The school started Unified Soccer in the District last year with an intra-squad school team and launched the league this fall.<\/p>\n

Richardson explains how the soccer game plays out.<\/p>\n

\"\"On each side we have four Unified athletes and one leadership student who typically comes from the varsity soccer program. They\u2019re there to facilitate the play, so they take the ball, dribble up the court and pass to one of their teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hallmarks of\u00a0Unified Sports\u00a0include building inclusion, friendship, and understanding through sport.<\/p>\n

Richardson says the games are meaningful for both the players and students who are spectating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we get together it\u2019s a celebration and the atmosphere in the gym feels like a big family. It\u2019s special. It\u2019s a feeling. Everybody\u2019s got a smile on their face. There\u2019s friendships and significant bonds that are being formed in the hallways \u2013 not just on the pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Unified Soccer playoffs were hosted by Burnaby Mountain with medals and banners before Winter Break in December. The league also included Alpha, Byrne Creek, and Cariboo Hill Secondary schools. It built on the success during the 2024-25 school year of the Unified Basketball league in which those four schools participated.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s Unified Soccer team at Burnaby Mountain had more than 15 students with disabilities or diverse abilities on it. Richardson says the benefits have been exponential for the whole school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is something that we\u2019re doing for the students. It\u2019s for the youth in the Access Program, the Pre-employment Program and our wider school community, as well. They get to spectate and feel what it is to be part of inclusive athletics.\u201d <\/p>\n

Unified Sports began in the District during the 2023-24 school year when youth at Burnaby Mountain became the first to have an intra-squad school Unified Basketball team.<\/p>\n

This spring, the Unified Basketball League will expand to every high school in the District \u2013 including students at all eight secondary schools.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Unified Sports Break Down Barriers at Burnaby Schools<\/a> \u2013 Freshet News, January 2026<\/p>\n

Empowering Education: Learning About Accessibility<\/a> \u2013 May 2025<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted January 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first-ever Unified Soccer league in the District is building community through team. In the new league, student…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":404125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[170380,903,129918,49,48,170374,2828,170377,170381,170375,170379,56660,170382,561,82,170376,170378],"class_list":["post-404124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-alternate-programs","tag-british-columbia","tag-burnaby","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-continuing-education","tag-elementary","tag-english-as-a-second-language","tag-french-immersion","tag-international-education","tag-sd41","tag-secondary","tag-senior-high","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-summer-session","tag-vancouver-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=404124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/404124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/404125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=404124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=404124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=404124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}