UF Unified Flag Football trains for NIRSA Unified Nationals

BY CLIFF TUMETEL

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida Unified Flag Football team, known as the Florida Club Unified, is getting ready to attend the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) Unified Nationals, where they will compete in the Unified Division that was started by Special Olympics. 

The team consists of five Special Olympics athletes and five Unified Partners who are students at UF. 

This isn’t the first time they’ve participated, as they attended last year’s Unified Nationals Flag Football at Round Rock, Texas but lost in the championship round.

“It was really close–it went into overtime, and we lost by one touchdown.” said Unified Partner Aaryn Brown.

Now it’s a new start and another chance to win it all. This year’s NIRSA Nationals will be in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and you can bet this team is hungry to get the chip. 

Every flag football team needs their quarterback to be at the top of their game, and Special Olympics Athlete Randy Godbolt is more than ready.

“I’m really excited and happy. I can’t wait, it’s going to be fun and awesome,” Godbolt said.

The quarterback is confident in his team, and they have confidence in him; Head Coach Savana Brashears says Godbolt has always been great, and she has full confidence in him. 

“I feel like if Randy really wanted to and he had a good knee, he could be in the NFL, as all dads say! But I trust him. He’s been playing the sport for a really long time. He has a really good arm, and he really trusts the people around him to catch the ball,” Brashears said. 

While everyone is excited at the chance to compete, there is one team that they’re itching to go at once again; it’s a team they know all too well–after all, they narrowly lost to them last year. 

“Nebraska. They are a good team, they have a good offense, good defense–we did too,” said Godbolt. “I want to get my rematch from them.” 

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln defeated Florida 39-33 in overtime for the championship, and now the UF team is hoping to get another shot against the champs.

“If I can beat anyone, it would definitely have to be Nebraska,” said Brown. 

Coach Brashears shares that feeling, but she also says she can’t wait to see other teams and how their programs have grown. 

“The most important thing about Special Olympics is, yeah, we all want to win, we’re all really competitive, but the most important thing is growing the programs,” said Brashears. “UF has a very special program here, nationally recognized; anything that we can do to help other programs, because we all have the same goal at the end of the day, is to give these athletes the best time and form these friendships.”

The NIRSA Nationals will be held Dec. 16-20, but until then, the team will continue to practice and continue to get better together. 

“We’ve really grown that bond, and there’s this sort of intuitive sense that we have with each other that really, I think, is going to benefit us and give us a great chance this year,” Brown said.