High Schools - Marple Newtown opens arms to special-needs students

TEVIN GILBERT is a gentle bulldozer who can't help but smile. He speaks in halting starts and stops, with a stutter, yet in this environment, there are no derisive stares. No one points a finger. No one makes him feel as if he is an outcast, that he doesn't belong. On this basketball court, he is at home. He is relaxed, playfully feigning an injury in an attempt to get out of running after practice. Like any other high school athlete, he gets teased by teammates and teases back. He feels included.

It's one of the few times that Gilbert, a 6-1, 250-pound sophomore forward on Marple Newtown's junior-varsity basketball team, has ever felt that way.

What makes Gilbert different is that he lives at the Don Guanella School, an Archdiocese of Philadelphia facility for special-needs boys in Springfield, Delaware County. Gilbert and fellow Don Guanella students Lemuel LeVan, Juan Laserre and Christian Massey, are all involved in something novel - something special - this year, playing for Marple Newtown High School's JV and varsity football and basketball teams.

It was a huge risk attempting to integrate the quartet, who are highly functioning teenagers, with mainstream high-school athletes - and it has worked incredibly well. There were some concerns how the boys would react emotionally to this new environment. There also were concerns as to how the Marple Newtown athletes would accept this kids.

But it has worked incredibly well. Gilbert and Laserre suited for the Tigers' varsity football team last fall. Gilbert, a defensive end, even got some playing time, and could play a larger role with Marple Newtown's varsity football team next season.

Gilbert, LeVan and Laserre have sophomore athletic eligibility. Massey is a freshman and the only athlete of the four who attends Marple Newtown academically, though he lives at Don Guanella, which is also a residential facility.

Gilbert and LeVan, a forward, are on the JV basketball team, and Massey plays receiver and lineman for the Tigers' freshman basketball team. Laserre, a receiver, suited for the JV and varsity football teams.

It not only has been a wonderful experience for the four Don Guanella boys, but for their Marple Newtown teammates.

"They fit right in, as part of the team basically the first day they came; everyone took them in like family, treated them just like a teammate," senior tailback John Gallagher says. "I never had any previous experience with kids like Tevin and Juan. I've done some community service at Don Guanella, but never dealt with kids every day like this. I give these guys a lot of credit for coming in here cold. Anyone coming in at a varsity level and competing, I have to give credit to, and I'm impressed just that they set out to do something they've never done before. They hopped right in and weren't scared."

But they were. They just might not have shown it.

"I didn't know how these kids [at Marple Newtown] would react to me or what they would say," Gilbert says. "I had some situations in the past where other kids said things to me that weren't nice. I've been picked on a little bit in the past. I didn't know what the other kids would say or how they would react to me. I was a little afraid some of the kids here would make fun of me, like they have before."

Lemuel LeVan has played basketball all of his life, but not at this level. He has been at Don Guanella for 9 years. This experience has been a new world for him, light-years from the structured, controlled environment at Don Guanella.

He was apprehensive about coming to Marple Newtown and trying this.

"When I first got here, I was a little afraid of the kids; I didn't know them and didn't know what they would say to me," LeVan says. "I've had some tough times. I got teased a little bit in the past. But these guys here make me feel like part of the team. They've made me feel welcome."

Marple Newtown's massive defensive end, Pete Massaro, bound for Penn State on a football scholarship, visits Don Guanella seven or eight times a semester to interact with the students there and play basketball. He has witnessed how society could judge, whether it's in a mall or any social setting.

"Society does prejudge; I've seen people look and laugh before they really get to know these kids," Massaro says. "I've seen them really come out of their shell since they've been playing here. I've seen them grow as people and as athletes. I guess I have a little more compassion for kids in their situation, because I've been to Don Guanella. They're such nice kids, but they're also very courageous in my mind. I don't know if anyone has ever given them a chance before. I don't know if I could do what they've done, not knowing anyone, not playing at this level before."

 

The idea

Tiffany Taylor, 23, had been a social worker at Don Guanella for just 7 months when she had a thought and wanted to follow through on it. A former basketball starter at Strath Haven High, Taylor saw the love of sports in the boys she was working with.

Tiffany Taylor, 23, had been a social worker at Don Guanella for just 7 months when she had a thought and wanted to follow through on it. A former basketball starter at Strath Haven High, Taylor saw the love of sports in the boys she was working with.

Don Guanella receives a wide range of students, from non-verbal, to boys with cerebral palsy, from mild to moderate mental retardation, to various cogitative deficiencies.

Taylor remembers one time when the Don Guanella boys went to a Sixers game, and though the kids enjoyed themselves, Taylor sensed something else. "There was some staring," she says, "and they feel scrutiny, like they don't belong and fit in with the rest of the people there socially. They are great kids. They make you feel important."

Because Taylor played in high school, she wanted to afford her kids at Don Guanella the same opportunity. She inquired about the Don Guanella boys at Marple Newtown, since Don Guanella is located in the Marple Newtown School District. In early August, Taylor called Marple Newtown athletic director Dennis Reardon. The two were in contact over the following 2 weeks. Reardon received approval in mid-August from the PIAA, the governing body of Pennsylvania high school sports. There are other instances nationwide of special-needs students integrating with mainstream high-school athletes, but this is the first time it has been attempted locally.

Tevin Gilbert and Juan Laserre were introduced to the football program 2 weeks into the season. They had never played organized football.

"We were taking a big chance; this could have flopped and really crushed their confidence, but I don't think these boys were even given the opportunity to take a chance," Taylor says. "Everyone took a chance, the staff, and the school itself. I was a little nervous, afraid that if it flopped, what have I done to these boys? I really care about these boys; it goes beyond the 9-to-5 of the job. But I think these boys have something to build on from this experience."

Now Taylor feels like a proud parent, in the crowd last fall during football games and in the stands during basketball season. Logistics were worked out, since the boys had to be driven back and forth from Don Guanella to Marple Newtown. That meant more of a commitment from the Don Guanella staff and a major commitment from Marple Newtown, since games were over sometimes as late as 10 p.m.

"Everyone has been great with this," Taylor said. "This has worked out beyond anything I thought, because Mr. Reardon was so receptive in helping the boys."

This is Reardon's first year as Marple Newtown's AD. His days seem endless, starting at 8 a.m. and sometimes not ending until 11 p.m.

This was another responsibility, yet Reardon never hesitated. It was Reardon who walked Gilbert and Laserre out to the football field that first day in September and introduced them to the team and Tigers coach Ray Gionta. Reardon has been a constant shadow to the boys, following them from football to basketball, doing everything he could to make sure the Don Guanella boys felt at home.

"We honestly had some concerns at first, because we wanted to be sure these boys wouldn't be injured, based on their condition and inexperience with football," Reardon said. "There was a social aspect here, too. That first day, I walked over to some of our football players and asked if they would help make these kids feel at home. We had over a dozen players walk over and say hello. The kids basically took it from there. That's carried over into basketball season. Every time I saw them, you would think these kids went to school here their whole lives, they were so happy."

Gionta and JV basketball coach Glenn Rosenfeld also made sure the Don Guanella boys tried out and made the team like everyone else. "No breaks," Rosenfeld says. "This is something they've earned, both Tevin and Lemuel."

Gionta even sees a larger picture - and greater opportunity.

"We're hoping Tevin develops into a football player next year," he says. "He's a big kid and he has some agility and athletic ability, and he'll only be a junior next year. We'll treat those kids like any other kid on the team. But what's been most commendable doesn't come from the school or from me, but how our kids have embraced these boys, treating them like any other kid. The boys were always included, and I'm not sure if they've ever been treated like that before." *

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