06/11/2026
SONKY athlete, Daniel Hewitt is attending the USA Games in Minnesota. Let's congratulate him and follow him and our other SONKY athletes heading there next week!
Good Luck to all of you!
This week's Meet Team Kentucky feature looks at our Unified Basketball Team. Like all Unified sports, Unified Basketball teams Special Olympics athletes with teammates who do not have intellectual disability to practice and compete. This will be the second time that Kentucky has sent a Unified Basketball team to the Special Olympics USA Games. The first was in 2022 in Orlando.
Like our 2022 team, this year's Unified Basketball team is based out of the University of Louisville and will include six athletes and four Unified partners and will compete in the collegiate division. All but one of those players will be making their first trip to the USA Games.
Unified Partner Zoe Beck is from Englewood, N.J., and has been involved in Unified sports for two years at UofL. She was part of the Kentucky team that competed at the NIRSA National Championship last year in Wisconsin.
Gary Garrett of Louisville has been a Special Olympics athlete for 19 years. He works at UPS.
Aiden Heckel of Louisville has competed in Special Olympics for 13 years and competes in swimming, softball, soccer, track and bowling. He is a crew member at Trader Joe's.
Daniel Hewitt is the only team member who doesn't live in the Louisville area. An Erlanger resident, he has competed in Special Olympics for 11 years including softball, bowling, flag football and soccer. He's a graduate of the Athlete Leadership Program.
Kim Horning of Louisville has been involved in Special Olympics for 23 years, competing in softball, flag football, soccer and golf in addition to basketball. She has also participated in Unified soccer clinics. She works at UPS.
Unified Partner Eli Just of Louisville has been involved in Unified programs for three years. He is a UofL graduate with a degree in Industrial Engineering.
Amos Luckett of Springfield has participated in Special Olympics for 14 years. He is the first person from Washing ton County to ever represent Kentucky at the USA Games.
Unified Partner Jeremy Mercer of Louisville helped establish Unified programming at UofL and competed in the 2018 and 2019 NIRSA championships before graduating. He returned to Unified programming as a graduate student last year. Mercer will also be an assistant coach on SOKY's newly announced Unified soccer team in conjunction with Louisville City FC.
Cory Pitsenberger from Louisville is the only returning player from the 2022 team. He scored the first point in Kentucky USA Games Unified Basketball history with a free throw in the team's opener. He is a student at UofL and works in the Louisville athletics office.
Unified Partner Collin Ploeger is from Round Hill, Va., is participating in Unified activities at his second university after transferring to UofL from Brigham Young. In addition to Unified programming, Ploeger volunteers with a program that collects clothing for those in need and serves as a Spanish interpreter at a free medical clinic for underinsured people.
The team will be coached by SOKY Youth Initiatives Manager Eric Piernas. Piernas previously worked as UofL's campus recreation director where he played an instrumental role in UofL becoming the first Kentucky university to earn National Banner School recognition. He was a Unified partner on the 2022 team that played in Orlando.
Michael Justice will be the team's assistant coach. SOKY's Youth Initiatives Director, Justice is making his second trip to the USA Games. He was the assistant coach on the flag football team that claimed a bronze medal at the 2018 Games in Seattle.
For complete team bios and additional information about Team Kentucky and the USA Games, visit soky.org/teamkentucky. 🐴💚💙
