Win or Lose: Unified Basketball Unites Everyone

Zack Smith had the ball at the top of the key and passed it to Tessa Henley. Defending well, she passed it to Kaylee Brennan for a shot attempt in her scoring range. The ball missed its mark, but Mike MacKenzie snared the rebound and immediately passed the ball outside to an open teammate, lefthander Alex Souliere. He made the 15-foot shot after it hit the rim and bounced in for the basket.

It was a classic example of  teamwork in Unified Basketball at its best. Every player on the floor touched the ball in a South Division matchup on Wednesday against Bishop Hendricken at the Oakers gym. Leading the way for the Oakers was McKenzie with 13 points, Smith with 8, Souliere with 6 and Kevin Bailey with 5.  

When the buzzer sounded, the final score was 42-32 for Bishop Hendricken, the fifth straight win for the Hawks and fifth successive loss for the Oakers. Parents, fans and fellow students still applauded both teams in a sport that pairs male and female athletes with disabilities with varsity athlete partners in modified competition.

Afterwards, players listened intently to Coventry coach Steve McKanna and Hendricken coach Mike Monahan as both mentors praised the efforts of each squad.

Now in its second year, Unified Basketball is sponsored by the Rhode Island chapter of Special Olympics under the auspices of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League. Indeed, the Ocean State last year became the first state in the country to have two Unified sports leagues- basketball and volleyball- officially recognized as school varsity sports.

The league has almost doubled from last year when 10 teams launched the inaugural effort. This year it has grown to 18 teams in three divisions.

“I’ve seen the growth of these kids,” said Hawks coach Mike Monahan, former Hawks, varsity state championship player, and CCRI and RIC standout. “But it’s more social growth than anything else. It becomes their team.”

“I have all of these kids in class because I teach Adaptive Physical Education,” says McKanna, in his first year as a Unified Basketball coach. “I’ve known these kids for most of their school career.”

Monahan notes, “Bishop Hendricken has a program that meets special needs of seven students. Most of these students play,” he says. “I coach (Unified) Volleyball and it’s all the same group of kids playing basketball so we have a tight unit.”

Still, it can be a real balancing act for these coaches in this unique varsity sport that can have three athletes to two partners on the floor at any time. Only varsity athletes from a sport different than basketball can participate as a partner.

So teaching all the players about competition can be tricky. “I have athletes who are overly competitive so I have to get them to tone it down and others who are more passive who I have to tell to be more competitive,” says Monahan. “Ditto,” says McKanna, while instructing teammates of various abilities to work with each other. One of my players is more athletic than the other so sometimes he splits time being an athlete and being a partner.”

But the message coaches impart is still the same. “He who takes the most good shots will win,” McKanna repeatedly tells his athletes. “I tell them that if they compete, hustle and play hard, don’t worry about wins and losses, that will take care of itself.”

The teams remain competitive despite the records. Monahan notes most of his wins have been by one or two points, including two overtime games. McKanna says his losses, until this one to the Hawks, have been by single digits.

“I see these kids in class two to three times a week,” McKanna says, “and the first thing they talk about when they come to class the past week was 'Hendricken is a tough team. They are a good team.'"

Teachers come up to me now and ask how we’re doing,” says Monahan. “Last year we had the team play a game in front of just about all the student body.”

Last year we used the advisory academic lab time to play a game and opened up the bleachers to half the student body,” Monahan says. “That way they get to play in front of all their classmates. It’s great for the students because when they walk through the corridors they’re getting high fives from students they never knew before.”

A tournament played jamboree style is scheduled for all Unified Basketball teams for the second week for Unified Basketball teams in May at Johnson and Wales University.

When everything is put into perspective, Unified Basketball offers the same opportunities as it does for any other varsity athlete, asserts McKanna. “I don’t think it’s any different for these kids to walk out to that circle and feel the nerves just as it is for the kids in all of our athletic programs. But they get used to the competition, the scoreboard and the buzzer and spectators cheering. So we are trying to get every kid, athlete, partner, spectator and referee enjoy basketball for what a varsity sport experience is supposed to be. I have not had a bad experience yet in this program.”

And you don't need to ask other Coventry members who have contributed to the Oakers teamwork thus far,  including Kevin Bertrand, Carla Sanderson, Lindsey Sweeney and Erin Blackmar, how rewarding this experience it has been.

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