On Thursday, March 21st, the Independent Living Skills (ILS) programs from M-A, Carlmont, Sequoia, and Woodside met at Ayers Gym to compete in the annual ILS basketball game, which, for the first time, was held at M-A.
Teacher Susan Price, who helped coordinate the event, said, “For the past two months, we have been practicing whenever we can get gyms, and I’m a mean coach–I drive them really hard.” This hard work was evident on the court as students made countless baskets, one player even scoring a three-pointer for the first time, triggering cheers and applause from spectators in the bleachers. One M-A player said, “My favorite part was definitely putting the ball in the basket, that was really fun.” M-A’s coach, Kathy Ishibashi said, “I liked how everyone was passing to each other, that is definitely something they needed to learn to do.”
Event coordinator, James Bell, who has run the event for 27 years, praised M-A’s cooperation. “M-A was fantastic, we had so much support from admin and the ILS program. Everyone was instrumental,” he said.
The game used to involve all schools in the district, but the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the number of participating schools to just four. Price hopes to re-expand the event in the coming years, and hopefully continue hosting at M-A in the future.
Bell said, “You see a kid shoot a basket for the first time and make it. You see sportsmanship you don’t normally see in much of what we do. It might come easy to some kids, but when you see it here, it’s demonstrative. It’s really moving.”
