Timberlane’s Unified Basketball team has been on fire since their first game. Their season started out with one of Timberlanes rivals, Pinkerton. The game ended in a comeback win giving their season a great start.

With their coach Ms. Bird, who is also a physical education teacher and class advisor, the Unified roster consisting of Holly Malkin, Jenna Solloway, Taylor Dionne, Brady Paul, Corinne Morrison, Riley McGrath, Ben Winter, Bella Plourde, Anna Bolduc, Lynn Madden, Zachary Diamond, Cole Newman, Jonathan Santos, Samantha Consalvo, and Adam Gioia had some of the most elite training and were quite prepared for their games.

 I had the pleasure of conducting interviews with some of the unified players and a member of the faculty team, Bradley Vigars.

Taylor Dionne says, “Playing for the unified team truly is one of the best high school experiences I’ve had”. 

Taylor’s favorite memory from the team was playing with her teammate Holly, giving her enough courage for Holly to make a basket. When asked which player she would compare herself to, she answered “I would have to choose Sean Chanakira, in the sense that we are both small but mighty.” 

Jenna Solloway’s belief as to why the Unified Basketball team is so amazing was that anybody could play on the team, even if they had a disability. She really enjoyed this season when she was able to meet some of her old best buddies and trash talk with the faculty basketball team. When asked if she wanted to say anything in the article, she answered “Unified Basketball has basically changed my life.”

Jonathan’s experience from Unified Basketball has been great. He said that it felt good to play against the faculty team and play with his friends and teammates which he’s thankful for all the passes to him. The reason for Jonathan having his jersey was answered “It is the same number as Lebron James and he is my favorite player.”

Bradley Vigars, teacher and player for the Timberlane Faculty Basketball team who had a crushing defeat against the Unified team. When asked how it felt going against the superior Unified team, Mr. Vigars answered “It was quite clear that they were the better team, we were able to stay with them in the first half of the game but they were able to take the lead and the difference in talent was quite obvious.”

Getting the chance to see this spectacular group of people do something so amazing has been nothing short of fantastic. The Timberlane Unified Basketball team has been very influential not only on but also off the court.