Unified Football is a unique club offered at Westside that allows special needs students and volunteer “buddies” to compete in friendly football games together. 

Sophomore Kaleb Gass has been a member of Unified Football for four years. 

“We do a lot of drills and scrimmage with some other schools,” Gass said. “We alternate buddies, so we meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends. The program is really enjoyable and it is something that I really like to do.”

Senior Chase Kroeger is a buddy in Unified Football and initially joined because he thought it sounded like a good idea.

“I attend the practices and I help the athletes with all of their drills and scrimmaging, almost like an assistant coach,” Kroeger said. 

Kroeger said that anybody with the opportunity to join Unified Football should take it.

“I think us volunteers are really valuable because we normally have a lot of players, and there are only a couple of coaches so it is really appreciated when we can step in and help and make the practices move more smoothly,” Kroeger said.