Joy Of The Game

Published 5:28 pm Tuesday, March 20, 2012

PRINCE EDWARD – Basketball is a thing of beauty on a hardwood court-a dance to a symphony of squeaky sneakers and muffled PA tones. Still, as beautiful as it is, the group of students taking the floor on this particular morning made it even more beautiful.

Witness the exhilaration on a player's face as a ball falls through woven nylon strings.

Note the high-fives.

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Gaze upon the rhapsody of a beaming smile, a measure of the joy of the soul.

This is the Medford League.

Medford offers high school students with multiple, intellectual, cognitive, and physical disabilities a chance to compete in a basketball. The League, based in Chesterfield, includes nine teams from eight schools (including Prince Edward's Eagles) squaring off in both home and away games on select Thursday mornings over the course of the season.

On this particular morning, the Eagles are taking on the James River Rapid Fire.

As tip-off looms, Athletic Director Rodney Kane announces the teams over the loud speaker from center court in the crowd-noised muffled echo in the high school's cracker box of a gym. Softball Coach Marvin Meadows sits at the same table ready to operate the game clock.

Official games need an official clock.

Behind the benches of the teams parents look on from the limited number of bleacher seats. Across the way, a gym class, joined by other select students, fills the stands to cheer the teams on.

Everyone plays in the Medford League and, yes, they keep score and there is a championship to be won-if the Eagles win today, they would go on to the championship game.

But there's much more here than basketball.

“…I'm sitting there watching them play a couple of weeks ago and…seeing them make a shot and seeing the look on their face,” Kane would later offer. “It's like, all right, that's the reason I went into this (teaching). You know, to see that kind of look on (a) kid's face when they achieve something-I guess that's the best way to put it-to see a student achieve something whether it's a classroom or out on the athletic fields. It's pretty neat to see that.”

Priceless, perhaps, is the best way to describe it. Priceless.

Prince Edward is participating in its third year of the Medford League, thanks to former Athletic Director (and current high school assistant principal) Daniel Soderholm.

Though Chesterfield schools have been competing since the 70s, Soderholm, who worked with the program in James River, wanted to bring it here.

“I saw the success that it had in Chesterfield and how much both the students that participated in it and also the student body as a whole…benefited from it,” he said. “Because…it starts to, I guess, integrate our students with intellectual disabilities into the student body as a whole. You know, when we look at most students, the high school experience, they have an opportunity to be a part of some type of club or team…whether it's the recycling club or the football team.

“And, our students with disabilities really didn't have those opportunities and I believed that they deserve an opportunity to have their classmates cheer for them just the same as those on the varsity basketball team.”

Soderholm added that their students really embraced it and that it's great to see students cheering for both teams.

He noted, “…You see 'em giving 'em high fives in the hallways and telling 'em…what a great job they did and…they thought that was awesome they hit that three pointer and so our students are really…invested in each other and I think that really fits well with our community feel in our high school-small town…These students have known each other since they were in kindergarten and so it's great to see that all the way across the board.”

There's no budget for this basketball program, though the school division provides transportation. The students themselves help to create this swirl of excitement with their own business, Eagles Coffee 2U.

“What they do is they make coffee every day,” special education teacher and coach Sandee Draper explains, “and deliver it to the teachers. And with that money, they've raised enough money to buy all new uniforms.”

Purple ones trimmed in white, with sporty numbers.

The team also sells tea and hot chocolate and works concessions during basketball games, which helps to raise money, but also develops life skills.

“Confidence,” Ms. Draper says, when asked what she thinks the students get from the experience. “Increased self-esteem…They've learned to be great team players. They're really good sports 'cause there's other teams in the league that aren't quite as basketball oriented and they'll actually-I've watched them, let them make the baskets, so I call that good sportsmanship.”

One of those in attendance is Linda Nunnally, whose son Zach plays on the team.

Ms. Nunnally, a special education teacher at the middle school who has taught many of the children on the floor, would later offer that the program is “wonderful,” and noted that it offers a chance to participate in sports.

Zach has always been involved in Special Olympics, is not really shy and enjoys the games and playing, she said. It gives him a sense of belonging.

Beyond the game, he has had a positive impact on his mom who went back to school about seven years ago to finish her education and get a teaching license.

“I never would've thought of myself as a teacher at all…That was the last thing I wanted to do was teach when I graduated from high school,” she said, “but…because of Zach and wanting…things…the best for him and the opportunities for him…that's what led me to decide I wanted to go back to school and…get a bachelor's and teach…”

As basketball games go, this is a fairly loosely officiated affair. Players at times grab the ball between dribbles on a fast break and start dribbling again or shuffle their feet to position for a shot.

It doesn't hurt the game, but, rather, is part of the enveloping spirit.

Still, game official James Ford with a guiding hand offers reminders of some basic rules (such as the ball must be tipped not grabbed with both hands at the tip-off).

He enjoys it, too, offering that it's a great group of kids and it's one of the best parts of the day for him.

There's steals and three pointers, but not much physical play that warrants a foul call-in fact there's almost an understanding, a camaraderie on the court at times. Without coaching or encouragement, players sometimes just back off from an opponent with challenges, giving them space to attempt a shot.

No one whines or complains about such gestures, or really even talks about it at all. It's part of this wonderful game.

League guidelines also cite that regular games can be stopped to allow someone to shoot and score with no defense. (Both teams are awarded a point, so it has no impact on the outcome.)

No matter. The tales of great shots will reverberate long after the crowds have gone.

“Of course they're getting various mobile skills, exercise, but mainly they've learned to work together-cooperation and their self-esteem has really increased,” Ms. Draper said.

She cites one player, who doesn't speak. The eyes attest that he has become much more interactive with all the other students.

He scored his first basket this year.

From its outset the game has the feel of a varsity basketball match-up. There are introductions-all players (including those in wheelchairs) are announced and applauded as well as cheerleaders-eight-minute quarters, and a running clock.

Just like any basketball game, the crowd erupts when players score.

“This is great for Michael,” his mom, Anita Daniels says, in a break in the action, “because Michael is also in Special Olympics and this gives him extra practice. They get to go out of town every couple of weeks (for road games).”

The team on such excursions goes to different restaurants. Some of the kids, she adds, don't go out of town very often and it gives them the experience to show their manners and to represent Prince Edward County.

“Not really,” Ms. Daniels says, when asked if she noticed a difference in Michael when they win or lose. “Not really. No.”

In some ways, the team has more focus on where they're going to eat than the game itself.

Still, with all games, there are memorable moments. One Prince Edward player, shuffled feet and all, inches her way up to about a five foot shot at one point in the game-swish.

The joy explodes on her face, which is followed by a sideline celebration, a hug from Head Coach Jason Holman.

“…Her reaction, that's priceless when you see that,” Kane says days after the game. “…She's gone down the hallway a week now asking everybody if they saw her basket.”

Yes, those who were there and witnessed it enjoyed your moment with you.

Basketball is a sport, but it's also offers lessons in life-such things as teamwork, sacrifice, and sportsmanship.

“So it's kind of neat now to see them work together as a team and actually pass the ball to other players, not just the ones that are the best shooters, but kind of give everybody a chance,” Kane said.

In addition to Ms. Draper, other special education teachers, including Annabelle Ceazar and Dorothy Colbert, as well as seniors Brandy Hogan and Samantha Applegate, also pitch in to help with coaching.

There's also Holman, a paraprofessional in the special education department, who played for Amelia County High School and Hampden-Sydney College. He manages the bench.

“What I enjoy about it,” Holman beings, “I first noticed it like the first few games-is that their focus mainly was just being out on the court, just being able to participate, score a basket, meet the other team. And the winning aspect, that wasn't like…their first priority…I like the joy of the game.”

Ms. Hogan had designs on becoming an athletic trainer, but now she plans to attend Longwood with designs on becoming a special education teacher.

“I think…their appreciation for education and their joy of life…is mostly what it is,” Ms. Hogan explains. “When I can make them smile makes my day, or teach them something new makes my day-that I've done something, that I've changed someone somehow, no matter how small it may have been, that I changed someone's life. I could've affected them in the long run.”

Ms. Applegate also aims to become a special education teacher. She offered, “…Working with these kids teaches you a whole lot about how life really is and how much difference there is that people fail to see. But they also fail to see they're people the same as we are. And seeing a smile on their face all the time just lifts my spirit…It was actually really fun.”

It's not just those on the court who are getting something from this exercise.

“…The other kids in the school see our kids that are in the EMR classes in a different light when they see 'em like that…playing in front of them,” Kane said. “And they're like, 'Hey, you know, they're just like me…They have some other challenges, but…for the most part, they're just like me.'”

This was the final home game for the Eagles and Medford League teams were set gather to play in the finals at James River High School in a couple of weeks. Every team squares off with another team close in the regular season standings. The Eagles, the first place regular season champion, earned a spot in the championship game.

The season-long dance is coming to an end and, no matter the outcome, there will assuredly be tales to tell.

And that is a beautiful thing.