Play invigorates the soul. It promotes freedom of mind and body, creativity, and joy, and for these reasons the concept of play is at the heart of our Institute values.
The Neumann men’s basketball team harnessed this power of play last Friday when they visited The Timothy School in Berwyn, PA for a special sibling appreciation day. The Timothy School serves students with moderate to severe autism by helping them develop critical social and cognitive life skills in a supportive environment.
Families of Timothy School children, of course, make many sacrifices, and so Sibling Day is an opportunity for the students’ brothers and sisters to drop by and have some fun.
Manning one of several stations at the school, members of Neumann’s basketball team set up dribbling, shooting, and passing drills to train students and their siblings in basketball fundamentals. Afterwards, the Timothy School Tornados took on our collegiate players in a scrimmage – and won!
“The thrill of playing in front of a crowd is big for them,” said Neumann men’s basketball Head Coach Jim Rullo on The Timothy School’s team. “They have the same passion and energy for the game of basketball. For them to play in that atmosphere was special.”
“We all like to compete and we’re all in the game for a lot of good reasons, but we get a great sense of how blessed we are to compete at the collegiate level,” said Coach Rullo. “To share some time and the game we love with students who share that same passion is pretty awesome.”
Giving back through play is indeed an education in itself. Play breaks down barriers of difference and places participants, quite literally, on a level field. It helps us discover and experience the humanity of others while opening us up to shared creativity and possibility. Through play we can create and achieve together while learning that young or old, amateur or professional, we can all share a passion for possibility and achievement.
With the success of their first trip to The Timothy School, Coach Rullo said that Sibling Day will be an event to which the team will hope to return every year. In the meantime, they plan to look into opportunities to invite students to Neumann’s campus to take in the excitement of home games or practices and to continue to promote a spirit of play.