Annette Lynch: The Power Of Unified Sports

Power of Positive

**Listen in as Positive Coaching Alliance goes 1-on-1 in interviews with top pro and college players, coaches, executives and other major sports figures who provide tips, tools, information and inspiration for youth and high school sports coaches, parents and student-athletes.** This 1-on-1 interview features Annette Lynch ([@SpecialOlympics](https://twitter.com/SpecialOlympics)), member of the PCA National Advisory Board and Senior Manager of Coaching Excellence & Sport Education for the Special Olympics North America (SONA). Lynch has previously served as a player on the USA Women’s Basketball Team, a basketball director for Special Olympics, Inc., Vice President of Special Olympics Maryland, Director of Education and Membership Services for the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA), and a coach for nearly every level of sport. Tina Syer ([@TinaPCA](https://twitter.com/tinapca)), PCA’s Chief Impact Officer, gets Lynch's take on women’s involvement in sports and the benefits of unified play with people who have intellectual/psychical disabilities. Lynch also discusses the evolution of women in sport since she was an athlete. This interview is filled with insights on player development, the fear of disability, unified sports, player behavior, and more. Lynch talks at length about the Special Olympics and how sports can affect athletes with disabilities. The key thing for anyone to understand is that there are more similarities than differences between these athletes and others, but they learn differently. They receive the same physical, emotional, and social benefits as anyone else involved in sport. Most importantly, having unified sports can help these athletes transition to their communities because, “There are rules in sport [and] there are rules in life.” Like what you hear? To subscribe to our podcast in iTunes, [click here](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/pca-development-zone/id952838976?mt=2).