Schools
Teacher In Viral Playground Jumpshot Video Is A Rutgers Grad
Kathleen Fitzpatrick, the third-grade teacher who is now a viral playground legend, played basketball for the 2018 Rutgers women's team.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — She's a Rutgers grad!
Yes, Kathleen Fitzpatrick — the third-grade teacher who has now gone viral for an epic basketball long shot she made on the playground with her students — is a graduate of Rutgers University.
While at Rutgers, Fitzpatrick played for the Scarlet Knights women's basketball team, a Division 1 program.
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"If I make this shot, we'll have hot chocolate as a class on Monday," Fitzpatrick promised her students at Holy Trinity School in Georgetown, as she played with her students on the playground in the week before Christmas. Amazingly, Fitzpatrick makes the shot and all the kids on the playground — including a boy dressed like a reindeer — go wild.
The video was posted by Holy Trinity School to its Facebook page. It has since been viewed more than 2.9 million times. Fitzpatrick said the playground jump shot was a chance to make her students smile after a long year and a half dealing with coronavirus.
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We knew that follow-through looked familiar ...
Ms. Fitz was a Scarlet Knight! #GoRU! https://t.co/Fh0DTFFruv pic.twitter.com/lHFY99cQt3
— Rutgers W.Basketball (@RutgersWBB) December 23, 2021
"We knew that follow-through looked familiar ... Ms. Fitz was a Scarlet Knight! #GoRU!" tweeted the Rutgers women's basketball program.
It's no surprise Fitzpatrick is good at basketball: ESPN interviewed her and surfaced a 2018 video of Fitzpatrick playing for Rutgers and landing a three-point across the court shot just as the buzzer rang at halftime against U of Maryland.
Fitzpatrick said she was more terrified trying to make this shot than in her game against Maryland, because her third graders were counting on her.
"I usually do play basketball with them at recess and I don't really take it lightly," Miss Fitzpatrick admitted to ESPN. "I play you know, as hard as I can. It was a Friday afternoon. And I just picked up a ball and said if I make this shot we'll have hot chocolate Monday as a class. I just launched it and it went in."
She said her students mobbed her, saying they could not believe she made it and asking if she could do it again.
Former NBA star Vince Carter congratulated her.
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