Unified basketball goes way beyond being just a sport to the players, mentors, and coaches involved.
Guidance counselor Kristin McDonnell coaches both the varsity girl’s basketball team and Unified basketball team here at Norwood High School.
McDonnell has been coaching Unified basketball in Norwood for three years and continues to feel the impact of being part of the team.
“It’s so amazing to see these kids feel that excitement from what a sport can allow for while doing it with their friends, and it’s positive, and everything they do is excitable. You really don’t leave there not smiling” she said.
Coach McDonnell is clearly not alone in her feelings about the team.
Mustang Gazette staff reporter Josiah Robinson, who plays for the Unified team, created a list of reasons why people should go to Unified games.
Unified basketball also has mentors who support the players in different ways.
“I feel like it’s really nice to see everyone so happy when they’re playing and everyone having fun,” said freshman mentor Cyril Randall.
McDonnell also thinks very highly of the mentors and how they are very encouraging and helpful to the Unified kids.
“They just are so good with the players, they’re supportive. They get so excited for them [and] they make everything a big deal for them,” McDonnell said.
Senior Jadyn Halls plays on the Unified basketball team and has a lot of fun doing it.
“Students playing a Unified sport is a part of getting involved and…it’s a part of having fun,” Halls said.
McDonnell agreed that coaching Unified has a more fun and relaxed feeling than coaching the girl’s basketball team.
“When you get to Unified it changes that whole idea of [playing], where the main goal is to have as much fun as you possibly can while giving kids an outlet to use basketball as part of that. You’re not going in trying to win the game, and if you don’t win it’s not like ‘Oh my God what are we going to do?’ It’s like, let’s go, let’s have a blast doing a sport we all love… I think it just changes the mentality about just how much fun it is.”
