GREEN BAY, Wis.– High school seniors Xavier Goff, a Special Olympics athlete, and Rionne Turner, a Unified Partner, will represent Unified Athletes at the NFL Draft in Green Bay. The pair were selected from Washington High School by Special Olympics North America.
They will get to announce the 38th draft pick from the New England Patriots on Friday, April 25, as well as participate in the Media Day, a flag football clinic, meet the professional athletes, and take part in the NFL Draft experience.
Washington High School is one of the only two schools in the state that offer unified flag football. Goff is a top scorer for the team and was a recipient of the 2024 Special Olympics North America Athlete of the Year.
“He’s been Washington’s main leading scorer for their special traditional Special Olympics program. Since coming on as a sophomore, he’s blossomed into this leader. He’s gained confidence in himself. At school he feels like he belongs,” says Lyndsay Linsmeier, Adaptive Athletics Supervisor for Milwaukee Recreation. “He’s just so excited that he’s representing Milwaukee, but also his family and his school community and he’s just so proud of what he’s been able to accomplish.”
Unified Athletics hopes this representation will allow them to expand interscholastically throughout the state of Wisconsin.
“In terms of inclusion, this is a big. This inclusion revolution and moving forward to more social and sporting inclusion, it’s new and gaining momentum. And so I think this is really probably one of the first awesome steps the NFL is doing,” says Linsmeier. “Milwaukee’s doing a lot of cool things. Washington is one of the top schools right now that’s doing a ton of unified programming that is truly starting and working towards shifting that culture of acceptance for everybody.”
