Limestone High School has a big unified program. The program consists of a Physical Education class that is also composed of different Special Olympic sports such as Basketball, Soccer, Track, and bowling. Limestones Unified basketball recently got the chance to play in the state tournament and placed 3rd. One of the players of the basketball team is Logan Smallwood, Smallwood got an idea that can help out any Unified athlete and is starting up a brand to do so.
U-Drip started up with an idea over dinner, Smallwood stated, “My parents and I were talking over dinner about our Unified program. We talked about how the right equipment and making athletes feel good about themselves was super crucial to our athletes. Thus, came about U-Drip and the idea of spreading drip to everyone.”
The brand is called U-Drip. U-Drip is a non-profit organization that supplies unified athletes with the right “drip” for the activities they are involved in. U-drip also supplies unified athletes with the equipment that they need for their sport. Smallwood said, “U-drip started as an Idea to supply our Unified basketball athletes with drip. However, with our money raised, we can now supply our Unified track team. We will soon supply all sports unified and give the kids the opportunity to feel included.”
Smallwood was able to take six unified athletes to Dick’s Sporting Goods to outfit them for the IHSA Special Olympics Unified State Basketball Tournament. “It was an emotional experience where the kids were so excited getting their drip. Their eyes lit up when they saw the shoes and I knew that day that we accomplished something huge and that there is more to come,” Smallwood said.
Smallwood’s goal is to “spread out all across Illinois and make a bunch of kids feel included and give them a good feeling when they play,” he explained.
Smallwood started up a GoFundMe in late February and has obtained over 2500 dollars. U-Drip is going to release merchandise and all the funds will go straight to the U-Drip fund.
To contribute to U-Drip’s Gofundme, click the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/unified-drip?qid=f75ad3e165fc5f807f886a269e85041b
