Shouts, cheers and the thud of a dozen basketballs filled the gym of Brunswick high as the first practice for the unified basketball team commenced on Tuesday. Coach Chris Baribeau met with the team, comprised of athletes with disabilities and those without before turning them loose on warm ups.

“Athletes who do not have a disability facilitate the game and for the most part,” Baribeau said. The rules and guidelines for unified basketball mirror those for any other varsity sport.

“It’s fantastic — across the state we now have 32 schools who are interested in playing. I think it’s only going to grow,” Baribeau said.

Baribeau said he’ll have a final team number between 16 and 20 students this year — about half of which have a disability. Their first game, slated for Jan. 22, pits them against Lewiston.

According to Baribeau, basketball was the first unified sport to make its way into Maine but that unified teams have a long history and encourages students who may not have felt they had a chance to play a varsity sport, to get involved. Baribeau said the unified team gives students an opportunity to play sports they wouldn’t normally play.

“I actually coached these boys and girls to a Western Maine State Runner-up last year and an 8-0 regular season,” said Baribeau, who is also in his second year coaching the club volleyball team. He also coaches the seventh grade middle school basketball team.

“We have three practices before we see Lewiston. Lewiston was a very strong program last year — they’ve got a great coach, they all know fundamentals and with three practices, we’ll have our work cut out for us in the first game of the season,” Baribeau said.

dmcintire@timesrecord.com

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