IMMOKALEE, Fla. — Immokalee High School's unified flag football team is no ordinary flag football team. The players are champions.
The team includes both gen-ed students and students with disabilities.
They won two state championship titles this season, FHSAA Division 2 State Championship and the Special Olympics Florida (SOFL), Seniors Level, Division 2 State Championship at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, after losing last year in the finals.
Team captain David Garcia said it's all about teamwork.
"Everyone had to play together. Everyone had to think together just to have our chemistry right. Everyone has to have a bond for this whole team just to get everything right, and look where we are now," Garcia said.
Another player added, "We do everything together."
"I love my teammates. They make it amazing," said someone else.
Immokalee Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades met up with the champs at Collier County Schools Special Olympics field day and their coach Kate Doyle.
"I'm just so proud of those guys. It's all them. They're the ones that put in the hard work," Doyle said.
Watch Immokalee Community Correspondent Ella Rhoades report below:
Set plays and practice helps them win but the unified team knows there's more to it.
She said, "I'm a huge proponent of inclusion and there's a revolution that's going on right now. We have to include these kids in everything they have to have equal opportunity….and all the glory of high school years just as any other student. They're entitled to that."
At the end of they day, they all want the same to smile, laugh, have fun and win next years state title.
