Northampton Unified Basketball goes undefeated in 2023

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Last fall the Unified Basketball team at Northampton High School had quite a few cheerleaders. Whenever the 13-member squad had 5 people on the floor, the 8 students on the bench shook their pom-poms in solidarity.

“One of the best things that came out of the season was that if you weren’t playing, your job was to support your teammates. They did a really good job this year,” said coach Mike Gill.

They also went undefeated for the first time in the program’s history at NHS.

Unified Sports are part of an international program overseen by the Special Olympics to foster inclusivity. In 2018 veteran coaches Gill and Jim McGrath, along with a few volunteer coaches, began overseeing Unified Basketball and Unified Track at NHS. On both teams, students are athletes simply because they want to be. Players with and without intellectual disabilities, known as athletes and partners, are indistinguishable

McGrath, who was recently inducted into the Holyoke Athletic Hall of Fame for his decades of coaching at Dean Technical High School, stressed that team chemistry is always tricky. “It’s like any team that I’ve coached, you just never know how all the personalities are going to fit,” he said. “The kids got along well with each other, so when anyone made suggestions, the kids listened. Some have been athletes for a couple years, and I think they were, just through maturity, starting to listen and pay attention. That’s what the team atmosphere is about, getting the kids to communicate and help each other out.”

Gill noted that gelling as a team is hard work in and of itself, and that that camaraderie may have helped them come from behind more than once. During their last game of the season, they were down 19 at the half, but ended up winning 72-58.

The coaches praised Jared Kubin, an athlete who started with the team in 2018, for how much he had matured over the years. “The first couple years he would always get the ball and shoot,” said McGrath. “This year he was more oriented toward looking to pass the ball.”

His more open perspective was even notable off the court. “He’s grown up,” said Gill. “Now he talks more about work, being at home – instead of just sports, he talks about life.”

This year’s roster included Kubin, Nathan Lupert, Tammy Noble, Emmeline Marks, Alexis Michna, Douglas Highsmith, Catherine Peters, Michael Marrero, Eil Reid, Melanie Stone, Jordyn Rodrigue, Alexa Rodrigue and Dante Lesniak.

Though Gill and McGrath are technically retired, they have enjoyed their “swan song” more than anything else in their career. (And they’re not going anywhere.) “If you’re doing high school coaching, you’re not doing it to become rich,” said McGrath with a laugh. “As with any teams that I’ve coached, you’re just hoping to see how everyone is growing. That’s your reward.”

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