By Jenna Anderson
Spectrum
West Bloomfield HS
1st Place Division 1, News Writing
Sports Feature Story
JUDGING CRITERIA
- Lead captures attention, arouses curiosity
- Emphasizes new element,fresh angle
- Colorful, lively presentation; effective form/style
- Reflects adequate research,sound interviewing techniques
- Avoids summaries of published materials
- Effective use of facts/quotes
- Interesting; appeals to the emotions
- Proper diction/grammar
Freshman Tanner Thornton dribbled down the court. Surrounded with pressure, Thornton took a chance and went up for a shot. He drained a three-pointer and danced to the cheers of the crowd.
Thornton is a player, and self-proclaimed captain, of the WBHS Unified Basketball team. This league invites students of special education programs to play basketball for their school. There are seven schools in the Oakland Athletic Association (OAA) league: WBHS, Southfield A&T, Royal Oak High School, Lake Orion High School, Clarkston High School, Groves High School and North Farmington High School.
Unified Basketball actually began at Brighton High School in 2016 with coach Andy Doupe. Since then, the program has expanded to include flag football and bocce ball. Unified players have the opportunity to earn varsity letters and compete in state-wide competitions.
“Our programs are created to promote respect and inclusion among all students at BHS,” said Emilia St. Olge, special education teacher at BHS.
Unified Sports were introduced to WBHS at a monthly meeting for OAA athletic directors. Athletic director Eric Pierce heard about the success of the programs in Brighton. Then, a representative from the Special Olympics told him about the available funding.
“We were happy to get the ball rolling and get it here,” Pierce said.
He reached out to special education and they answered the call. Teachers Jennifer Kozicki and Jed Jones were excited to get their students involved. They put a team together and started their six game season.
“There’s no chance you can leave the gym without a smile on your face,” Jones said. “The whole environment has just been amazing.”
Jones is also coach of the JV basketball team. By playing freshman games in the new auxiliary gym, the Unified team has time to play in between the JV and varsity games, giving them a crowd.
“It fit in seamlessly,” Pierce added.
The players can’t get enough. Jones said they can get quite competitive.
“Sometimes it makes me jealous,” he laughed. “I’m thinking about bringing them to my JV basketball games. They want to compete. That’s what fun about it.”
“We go out and get pumped up,” Thornton said. His favorite game was a close match against Royal Oak High. “It was one of my best games.”
While the players bring the heat, they also have support from general education students. The Lafata siblings, Vincent, Sammy and Lexi, are just a few of the volunteer players making a difference.
“They don’t get a grade for it. They’re doing it because they want to do it,” Kozicki said of the volunteers. “They work really well with them and make sure everyone has a chance to score.”
Junior Sammy Lafata joined the Link program this year. He said he enjoys playing with the same kids he sees in class.
“When they make a basket, it’s fun watching them get excited,” he added.
Senior Vincent Lafata has been a Link for three years and plans on becoming a special education teacher. Unified basketball is just another chance for him to interact with the students.
“Them looking up to me on the team means a lot,” he said.
His favorite moment on the court was when senior Benjamin Musiol scored his first basket. He is not an especially active player, so this moment was huge.
“It took him about four tries but he got it in,” Lafata said. “He was freaking out.”
This is the first year of Unified basketball at WBHS, but they have tried bowling before. The kids enjoyed it, but they didn’t get a chance to work together. Now, they get to play as a team in front of cheering fans.
“Seeing them trying to work together as a team is something else,” Lafata added.
Another group that enjoys the games, just as much as the players, is their parents. For most of them, this is the first time their child has participated in a school sport.
“This gives them a chance to come to the high school and go to their child’s athletic event which isn’t a normal thing for them,” Kozicki said. “It’s nice that the families get that high school experience as well.”
Unified basketball will end with a tournament at Troy High on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 10 a.m. In the future, Unified sports may be expanded at WBHS because it was such a success.
“It’s not very often that everybody leaves an event extremely happy,” Pierce said. This is one of those events. It really shows the true nature of what sports should be.”