The MHS team won gold at the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle.
Last September, Moorestown High School was informed its Unified basketball team was selected to represent New Jersey in the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games. The news was a cause of celebration, and the school revealed the news at one of the first football games of the season.
After journeying to the West Coast and competing in Seattle from July 1 to July 6, the team returned home with gold medals. Principal and one of the team’s three coaches Andrew Seibel said the first football game of the season will once again be a cause for celebration in Moorestown where they’ll celebrate the Unified team’s victory.
Unified sports game to Moorestown during the 2016–2017 school year. Unified sports joins people with and without disabilities on one team, and MHS is host to unified soccer, basketball, bowling and track and field teams.
In September, MHS was notified its Unified basketball team would be New Jersey’s first-ever interscholastic team. New Jersey sent 60 athletes and Unified partners along with 19 coaches to compete in 10 of the 14 sports being played at the games, Seibel said.
When the team boarded its buses to Newark Airport, hundreds of supporters gathered to see the athletes off. TSA agents at the airport gave New Jersey’s teams a warm welcome, and the president of Special Olympics flew out with the team.
The athletes were adorned in Tommy Hilfiger adaptive clothing for an opening ceremony on par with the international Olympics. Instead of representing different countries, each team represented their state.
“We got to walk proudly for state of New Jersey,” Seibel said. “Several parents were out there cheering us on.”
Seibel said the experience was an overwhelmingly positive one for everyone involved. From the second they left their dorms in the morning, the athletes were greeted with high-fives, photo ops and fist bumps on their walk to the stadium.
Fellow coach Mikal Lundy said the atmosphere at the games was overwhelmingly positive. He said athletes, coaches and game attendees were eager to exchange kind words, and all of the students walked away with new friends.
The team was also eager on the court. MHS students defeated the home state of Washington, 26 to 20, to vault into the championships, where they beat Ohio, 27 to 18. The team went undefeated in the tournament.
While the team played to win, there was a palpable sense of good will on the court and in the stadium, according to Seibel. When a good play was had by either team, everyone in the stadium cheered. If there was a foul, the other team would lift the player up off the floor.
Lundy said the team’s greatest strength was players’ willingness to sacrifice for the benefit of the team. He said everyone got a chance to shoot, rebound and get in the game.
“This team they really sacrificed for one another,” Lundy said.
Rising MHS junior Richard Texeira said while winning was special, he walked away from the games with a new friendship. He said during the school year, he and his fellow team member Marcus Harvey were always in separate classes, but the games gave them a chance to bond.
“We describe our team as like a family,” Texeira said.
The 2018 Team New Jersey Interscholastic Unified Basketball Roster included Ian “Mac” Banquier, Raymond Brady, Thomas Crable, Robert Fletcher, Colin Ginley, Michael Grant, Marcus Harvey, Grace Ricciotti-Molishus, Ricardo Teixeira and Megan Vazquez. Mikal Lundy, Andrew Seibel and Brittany Shields served as the team’s coaches.
