Unified basketball added more team members this year and worked to foster new relationships between students at North.

The co-ed varsity basketball team is a unique program that allows students with disabilities, partnered alongside their peers, to experience playing on a varsity sports team at North. 

Since it began last year, the team has grown from 10 to 30 athletes. According to math teacher Keith Whelan, a coach, “That is the number one thing that stands out: how interested the students at North were in joining the team.”

Whelan added the number one goal of the team is to “foster connections or relationships between different students in the building and to increase inclusion in our school.”

While the team wants to win, “it is not really about how many games you win or lose, but it is about the feeling you have when you are with those people,” said Whelan. “It’s the relationships that are built as we go and that sense of team.”

According to senior Brendan Whalen, a team-member, “My favorite part of the season for unified was being with my friends and the coaches. I am so happy that I am a Tiger.”