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Students from American Fork and Skyridge High Schools compete in the annual Unified Soccer Tournament on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, at Timpanogos High School in Orem.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Students from Pleasant Grove High School are shown in the annual Unified Soccer Tournament on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, at Timpanogos High School in Orem.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Students from American Fork and Skyridge High Schools compete in the annual Unified Soccer Tournament on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, at Timpanogos High School in Orem.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Students from Timpanogos High School cheer from the sideline for their peers during the annual Unified Soccer Tournament on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, at Timpanogos High School in Orem.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Students from American Fork High School are shown in the annual Unified Soccer Tournament on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, at Timpanogos High School in Orem.

Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

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Chants, cheers and words of encouragement echoed throughout the athletic field at Timpanogos High School in Orem on Thursday in support of inclusion and sportsmanship.

Timpanogos High hosted the annual districtwide Special Olympics Utah Unified Soccer tournament.

Unified sports allows students with intellectual disabilities the opportunity to participate in various sporting competitions. 

Thursday marked the 10th year of the sporting event and its first held at Timpanogos High.

“It’s just a day filled with tons of cheering and excitement and just a really great opportunity for these kids to represent their school and be teammates with their peers,” said Hannah Whitson, adaptive physical education teacher in the Alpine School District.

The district provides adaptive physical education for life skills students, integrated within their respective schools special education programs.

“(It’s) something that in the Alpine School District, we’ve taken really seriously,” Whitson told the Daily Herald. “Making sure that all of our students at whatever skill level that they have an opportunity to participate, and so we’ve seen kids get to be really successful in that.”

Athletes from schools across the Alpine School District were split into different divisions to compete against one another and determine which teams will advance to the unified state finals next month.

Alea Garner, a sophomore at Timpanogos High, said she takes pride in being a “Timberwolf” and was pretty excited about her performance on the field Thursday.

“I hit four goals today,” she said.

Garner was just one of many students who gets a kick out of playing soccer despite individual challenges.

For more than 50 years, Special Olympics Utah says it has been committed to fostering environments of acceptance and teamwork through sports.

Whitson said the Unified Soccer tournament is about more than just a typical game.

“It’s a powerful reminder that inclusion, teamwork and respect can bring people together both on and off the field,” she said. “By uniting students with and without intellectual disabilities, we’re building a stronger, more compassionate school community where everyone has a chance to shine.”

Special Olympics Utah’s Unified Soccer state finals will take place at America First Field in Sandy on Oct. 9.