Basketball

Fitchburg kicks off Unified Basketball season

October 19, 2023 by pkzadmin

FITCHBURG – The Fitchburg Unified Basketball team opened its 2023 season by welcoming nearby Lunenburg High School to the Doug Grutchfield Field House on Thursday afternoon.

On a day where the final score meant very little, the athletes from Fitchburg and Lunenburg showed sportsmanship and played with teamwork that would make any coach proud. At the end of the day, the visitors from Lunenburg came away with a 58-45 victory.

“Unified athletics is something I’ve been involved with for a long time and I just absolutely love the relationships you build with the athletes and the partners,” said Fitchburg head coach Brian Baxter, now in his fifth season at the helm. “Our first practice we only had two kids so our numbers have grown since then. We lost 18 athletes from last year’s team with graduation so we have a lot of new faces this season, it’s a brand-new team. We scored 45 points today; not bad for our first game.”

Unified Sports brings together athletes with and without intellectual disabilities to train and compete on the same team, according to the Special Olympics website.

Founded in Massachusetts, Unified Sports has become an important addition to Special Olympics internationally and has helped further its mission, by improving self-esteem, fostering acceptance, and creating new friendships among its participants. The primary goal of Unified Sports is to equalize the ability level of Special Olympics athletes with their partners and to promote inclusion through team practice and competition.

Fitchburg assistant coach Cindy Donelan is the school’s liaison for Special Olympics Massachusetts. She is also the school’s unified track head coach and in her first season assisting Baxter on the basketball court.

“I coach unified track and was recently brought in to help coach unified basketball. I have a son with special needs who is a part of the unified athletic programs,” said Donelan. “It’s been a love of mine to be able to combine my passion of serving people with different abilities. Joining and helping with basketball was the natural progression. I know a lot of these kids, I work with them every day within the school It’s a great experience.”

The Unified Sports program expands sports opportunities for participants seeking new challenges and dramatically increases their inclusion in the community, by helping to break down the barriers that have historically kept people with and without intellectual disabilities apart. At the same time, Unified Sports provides a valuable sports opportunity to individuals with intellectual disabilities who are not presently involved with Special Olympics, especially those with mild disabilities.

“I was familiar with unified sports and its growth in the last handful of years and to me, it’s a no brainer. I had the opportunity as a softball umpire to work Special Olympics Massachusetts before the idea of unified came to the high school level and I loved being a part of it,” said Fitchburg Public Schools Athletic Director Todd Robbins. “It’s an absolute win-win at the high school level. It makes perfect sense and it’s so incredibly rewarding for both the athletes and their partners.”

On Thursday, Fitchburg dressed nine players for its battle with Lunenburg. Representing the Red and Gray were Chance Chiv, Pedro DeCastro, Tomas Fernandez, Brian Clapper, Andrew Gutierrez, Ana Jimenez-Rodriguez, Linthi Lieu, Sam Lussier and Vinnie Nguyen.

The Red Raiders play a four-game schedule this season with two games at home and two games on the road. Tthe Red Raiders travel to Nashoba Regional High School to take on the Wolves at 3:30 p.m. next Thursday.

Fitchburg will host an end-of-season Unified Basketball Jamboree on Nov. 8 inside the Doug Grutchfield Field House with several of the area’s unified basketball programs scheduled to participate.

Littleton High hires ex-pro player Tyler Strange as new boys basketball coach

June 27, 2023 by pkzadmin

LITTLETON — During an 11-year span, Tyler Strange traveled the world, played professionally and became an assistant coach at two colleges.

Last year he decided it was time to come back to Massachusetts and continue to do what he loves. A year after becoming the director of Basketball Operations for the Mass Elite AAU program, the soon to be 31-year-old is taking on a new challenge. Earlier this week, Littleton High athletic director Mike Lynn announced Strange has been named the school’s new head boys basketball coach.

“Tyler seems to have an excellent perspective with interscholastic athletics and with basketball in particular,” said Lynn. “He’s excited about being the head basketball coach in our community. He’s somewhat familiar with the community with his ties to Mass Elite. All of those things, plus he won the interview process and he had all of the right answers to our questions.”

Strange takes over for Mike Foustoukos, who compiled a 28-41 record in four seasons, including a 6-14 mark this past season. Before Foustoukos, Mike Lombard netted 163 wins over 12 seasons, which included three league titles and a Central Mass. championship. Lynn was asked if he wanted Strange to take the program back to those championship seasons.

“I don’t have those types of goals for coaches. I want someone who understands what interscholastic athletics are all about and what we are trying to accomplish here, learning beyond the classroom and all of those types of things – the important facets of what we do,” he said. “Tyler just had the right perspective on everything. I don’t really set goals that we need to be here or there, I just want the right person for the kids. I want the kids to have a positive experience playing basketball and that’s what we’re looking for (with Tyler).”

A point guard, Strange first played two years at Leominster High, including averaging 16.1 points per game as a sophomore. He then transferred to the now-defunct Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg. During his senior year of 2010-11, he was ranked the No. 16 college prospect in the state by ESPN.com.

After high school, Strange went on to a fantastic four-year career at Division 1 Gardner-Webb College in North Carolina, from 2011-2015. A four-year starter, he holds program records for all-time assists (651), which is second in Big South Conference history, steals (207) and minutes played, and is second in program history with 68 wins.

Some of the more memorable wins came against DePaul, Clemson and Purdue. A two-year captain, he was named to the Big South First Team and was also named the Cleveland Country Christian Athlete of the Year in 2015.

After college, Strange spent two years playing overseas professionally with stops in Montenegro, China and Germany. Once his playing days were over, he served as an assistant for two years back at Notre Dame Prep before spending three years at Montreat College and two years at Wofford College.

“I had been gone for a long time and obviously I have all of my family in this area,” said Strange. “I have always been intrigued with coming back home. I took over the Mass Elite AAU program which is based out of the Burlington area. I have been back for the past year and we have some kids from Littleton involved in the AAU program so when the job opened, it intrigued me because it was an opportunity to run my own program and try to help grow the basketball mindset in town and try to bring the program to a new level. I think Littleton is a great place that you can win at and for me it’s all about giving back to the kids.”

This will be Strange’s first head coaching job.

“I think I’m ready. For the past five years of my life I have been an assistant at the college level. When I was at the Division 2 school, I was an associate head coach so I had some more responsibility. For me, it’s exciting because it’ll give me the opportunity to implement my own system,” he said.

For systems and program goals, Strange said it’s all about adapting to the student-athletes.

“Any good coach nowadays from what I have learned and been around, you have to be able to adjust, and that means adjust to your own personnel. We’re going to compete, we’re going to work and play hard and we’re going to try to win the right way. It’s what I have always been about. I’ve had a lot of success just trying to do things the right way,” he said.

Bay State Games heading to Fitchburg

March 2, 2023 by pkzadmin

When athletes from all across the state come together for the 41st annual Bay State Summer Games, some will do so in Fitchburg.

The Game On complex will host eight sports in the competition starting in the second week of July, according to a press release. The Bay State Games anticipate around 1,500 athletes taking part in the festivities in Fitchburg.

“We are excited to expand the roster of sports being held at Game On this year,” Kevin Cummings, Executive Director of the Bay State Games, said in the press release. “This state-of-the-art facility allows us to enhance the athlete and spectator experience and provide a true Olympic-style multi-sport atmosphere for our participants.”

The Games feature baseball, basketball, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, and volleyball as showcase sports. Athletes currently in grade 8 through 11 and who live or go to school in Massachusetts are eligible to attend regional tryouts during the month of June, with more info available and registration available at baystategames.org.

Other venues being used for the Bay State Games include the Boston Sports Institute in Wellesley, Union Point Sports Complex in Weymouth, and New England Sports Center in Marlboro.

Bay State Games participants range in age from 5 to over 75 and represent more than 300 Massachusetts communities as well as surrounding New England States in some sports. In addition to the showcase sports, other competitions include swimming, track and field, figure skating, pickleball, wrestling, weightlifting, archery, judo and badminton, which are open to a wide range of ages and skill levels from youth participants to masters-aged athletes.

Adaptive sport divisions in archery, swimming, and track & field are offered, as well. Bay State Games also organizes tournaments for pre-existing teams in girls lacrosse, rugby, and 6v6 field hockey.

An additional feature in 2023 is that in over a dozen sports, athletes who win a gold, silver, or bronze medal at the 2023 Bay State Games will qualify to participate in the 2024 State Games of America in San Diego, California. The State Games of America feature more than 8,000 athletes from over 30 different state games programs nationwide. To see the list of qualifying sports, please visit www.stategamesofamerica.com.

Blue Knights come together for wins

January 12, 2023 by pkzadmin

When the Lunenburg High boys basketball team has stepped on the floor this season, individuals have melded into one cohesive unit.

Who scores hasn’t matter. The only thing the Blue Knights have looked for are victories.

And through seven games, wins have come more often than losses. Lunenburg enters Friday night’s tilt against Littleton with a 6-2 record, a solid start toward the team’s goal of qualifying for the state tournament.

According to head coach Erik Dellasanta, letting go of egos and buying in on the defensive end has led to success.

“This group of kids has truly committed to being a team. When you put the group above yourself, it makes winning games a lot easier,” Dellasanta said Wednesday. “This group has put in a lot of work, a lot of offseason work, to get better. They played in summer leagues in Lowell and Gardner and I’ve got a deep team because of that work.

“I’m lucky to have kids who don’t care who scores. They just want to win. They hang out after practices, they have dinners. I’m hoping they come out of this season not only as a good basketball team, but with connections that will last a long time.”

The Blue Knights aren’t a one-trick pony on the offensive end. Whether its Miles Seminatore, Vinny Dellasanta, Max Meilleur scoring the ball, no one seems to mind. On any given night, any Lunenburg player has shown the ability to step up and score.

Lunenburg's Max Meilleur drives to the hoop against Quabbin's Mark Halaby during Tuesday night's win. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier) — Lunenburg’s Max Meilleur drives to the hoop against Quabbin’s Mark Halaby during Tuesday night’s win. (Sentinel & Enterprise / Gary Fournier)

“We’ve got a variety of kids who can score in a variety of ways,” Erik Dellasanta said. “They look to pass up good shots for great shots. We’re moving away from contested eight-footers to open 3s; whatever is the best shot, that’s what we’re looking for. If you take away Player A, we’re going to Player B.”

The coach points to Seminatore as a force anywhere on the court, while the younger Dellasanta has been a 3-point specialist. Meilleur, a league all-star last year, has been a consistent offensive threat again this season.

Senior point guard Jonny Deyo, a captain along with Meilleur, is “one of the smartest players” Dellasanta says he’s coached, passing up shots to be an outstanding playmaker. Senior Chase Petricca has been tough on the interior despite being new to the team, while classmates Nikki Moreira and Joey Inferrera have provided shooting off the bench when called upon.

While the offensive prowess of the Blue Knights has been apparent to anyone who has stepped foot on a court with them, it’s Lunenburg’s defense that has turned heads. The team has been gritty and willing to get physical in an effort to get out in front.

Take Tuesday’s win over Quabbin Regional as a prime example. The Blue Knights won 54-31, but the game was never even as close as the final score suggests as host Lunenburg got out to an 18-0 lead, not allowing a single Panther point until the second quarter.

“Kids are hustling for loose balls, boxing out, playing great defense,” Erik Dellasanta said. “All the kids are doing those things. It’ s been infectious. They’ve bought in on defense and it’s made a huge difference this season.”

The focus, Erik Dellasanta says, has been breaking this campaign into four five-game seasons. The Blue Knights went 4-1 in the first segment of the season and are 2-1 in the last three heading into Friday’s contest. The ultimate goal, he notes, is to make the state tournament and hopefully make a deep run, but Lunenburg knows nothing is guaranteed.

“We’re in a tough league. Tyngsboro is a good team, Clinton is tough, Hudson’s tough and Maynard is the defending state champion,” the elder Dellasanta said. “To me, the end isn’t the ultimate prize for us, it’s the journey there. We’re just going to try to keep getting better every time we step out on the floor.”

PHOTOS: Harlem Globetrotters dazzle fans at the DCU Center

January 6, 2023 by pkzadmin

The Harlem Globetrotters put on an electric performance at the DCU Center in Worcester on Dec. 30, one of the many stops of their 2023 World Tour. The world renowned team is known for combining athleticism and comedy in their style of play and they certainly delivered with gravity defying slam dunks, fancy passing, and mind bogglingly impressive ball skills that were abundant throughout the show that delivered fun for the whole family.

Harlem Globetrotters deliver the experience of a lifetime

January 6, 2023 by pkzadmin

WORCESTER — One of the greatest joys as a parent is to watch your child totally immersed in something they truly enjoy, wonderment written all over their face.

The world renowned Harlem Globetrotters wowed the audience at the DCU Center in Worcester on Dec. 30 with a comedy filled game and show that included gravity defying slam dunks, fancy passing, and mindboggling and impressive ball skills that delivered fun for the whole family. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE)

This was my experience taking my basketball-obsessed 7-year-old son Wyatt to see the Harlem Globetrotters last weekend. It was a first for both of us. While I’ve heard plenty over the years about the well-known team, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The energy inside the DCU Center was palpably electric as the Globetrotters took the court for an evening that was all about showmanship and entertaining the crowd. Even if you aren’t a basketball fan per se, there is no doubt you would enjoy the high-energy experience the team members work hard to provide for their audience.

Wyatt’s eyes lit up watching the incredible slam dunks and elaborate ball exchanges between the players. There were several times during the event when we could barely breathe — we were laughing so hard. He chatted nonstop about the game on the way home and we giggled recounting all of the funny moments.

An iconic professional American exhibition basketball team founded in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, the Globetrotters are known for combining athleticism, comedy and showmanship in their play. According to Wikipedia they adopted the name Harlem because of its connotations as a major African American community.

They won against their longstanding rival the Washington Generals on Dec. 30, one of the many stops on their 2023 World Tour, but the game was less about the score and more about the theater that took place on the court. Gravity-defying slam dunks, fancy passing, and mind-boggling, impressive ball skills were on display throughout.

Youth of all ages that had a coveted Magic Pass got high fives from several of the players and were able to dribble and shoot with them on the basketball court and snag autographs and photos prior to the game. Thanks to his mom’s press pass and coverage of the game, Wyatt was fortunate enough to experience all of that and the look on his face was pure bliss meeting the players and shooting hoops.

10-year-old basketball player and fan Ethan Hunter of Salisbury was thrilled to meet 6' 7" Harlem Globetrotters forward Beast Clayborn, who goes by BC, prior to the team's entertaining Dec. 30 game at the DCU Center in Worcester. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE) — 10-year-old basketball player and fan Ethan Hunter of Salisbury was thrilled to meet 6′ 7″ Harlem Globetrotters forward Beast Clayborn, who goes by BC, prior to the team’s entertaining Dec. 30 game at the DCU Center in Worcester. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE)

We chatted with some of the families on the court, including Ethan Hunter, 10, of Salisbury and his brother, who both play basketball. They were also thrilled with the pre-game opportunity presented to them and like my son, had big smiles on their faces waiting in line with their mom for autographs.

Some of the players set up a spinning ball on the kids’ fingers, a Globetrotters trademark move, before the team put on an unforgettable show packed with hilarity, pausing play to dance — sometimes with each other, sometimes with audience members — contests and challenges involving the crowd, and more including epic backflips.

Harlem Globetrotters showman Thunder Law reverently lifted up a youngster ala Simba from the “The Lion King” during the Dec. 30 game in Worcester as his teammates gathered around while “The Circle of Life” played on the sound system, drawing raucous laughter from the crowd. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE)

At one point early on in the game the team gathered around a youngster and Thunder Law, a Globetrotters showman, reverently lifted him up ala Simba from the “The Lion King” as “The Circle of Life” played on the sound system, drawing raucous laughter from the crowd. The team’s mascot Globie was a big part of the show and during halftime ran around the court doing hilarious stunts including falling flat on his face several times.

The Globetrotters held up their title as the world’s winningest team by once again defeating the Generals, whom they play every game against. According to the Globetrotters website, the Generals have not defeated the Globetrotters in over 50 years in what has become “one of the great non-rivalries in sports.”

Globie, the Harlem Globetrotters team mascot, delivered many comedic moments at the Dec. 30 DCU Center game. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE) — Globie, the Harlem Globetrotters team mascot, provided many comedic moments at the Dec. 30 DCU Center game. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE)

The Generals last won against the Globetrotters in 1971, but with only 345 losses over the course of nine decades versus more than 27,000 wins, the Globetrotters claim the best winning percentage in the history of professional sports. They have played in 124 countries and territories and on six continents before 148 million fans, with Antarctica being the only continent they have not brought their skills to.

The team has other stops in Massachusetts including Springfield at the MassMutual Center on Feb. 5 and in Lowell on Feb. 13 at the Tsongas Center.

One of the most famous players in Harlem Globetrotters history, Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, began his professional career in 1958 when the Globetrotters signed the 7-foot-1 tall University of Kansas standout to one of the largest contracts in sports. He played a full season with the team before joining the NBA, where he played for the Philadelphia/San Francisco Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Lakers over his 14-year career.

No. 23 Thunder Law led the team and show at the DCU Center, flying high several times for epic dunks. The High Point University graduate has been a record-breaking machine since landing with the Globetrotters a decade ago and currently owns 11 Guinness World Records titles, such as longest bounce shot and alley-oop, both secured last year, on top of longest blindfolded shot in 2016 and longest backwards basketball shot in 2014.

Harlem Globetrotters forward Mighty Hopkins, one of several female players on the team’s roster, pulled a young lady out on the court during the team’s Dec. 30 game at the DCU Center in Worcester and demonstrated “girl power” by spinning the ball on her finger and flexing her bicep, provoking loud applause from the spectators. (DANIELLE RAY/SENTINEL & ENTERPRISE)

He was joined on the court by many others on the current Globetrotters roster including forward Mighty Hopkins, one of several female ‘Trotters. She pulled a young lady out on the court and demonstrated “girl power” by spinning the ball on her finger and flexing her bicep, provoking loud applause.

Getting to experience all of this grandeur and fun with my son was an experience I will forever treasure and one that I know he’ll remember fondly. As a newer basketball player, he has grown to love the game pretty quickly — which makes this former high school point guard one proud momma.

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