SMILES AND ‘BUCKETS’: Malden and Revere Unified Basketball Teams shine at GBL Jamboree

Student-athletes join together to make it a day full of competition and fun for all at Salemwood Fieldhouse in Malden

By Steve Freker

What it came down to, after all, was not how many baskets they could score, but how many smiles they could generate. The Third Annual Greater Boston League Unified Basketball Jamboree was held Tuesday at the Sam Fishman Fieldhouse at Salemwood K-8 School in Malden. The baskets were scored aplenty, no doubt. But the “Smile Quotient”? Quite simply, through the roof!

“This is the best day of the year for our athletics program,” said Charlie Conefrey, Malden Public Schools Director of Wellness, Athletics and Physical Education. “There is nothing better than seeing our student-athletes work side-by-side and have so much fun competing out there.”

Unified Sports is one of the fastest-growing programs in the nation. Based foundationally on the principles of equity and inclusivity, Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual and physical challenges on the same team. Originating from Special Olympics in 2018, Unified Sports was inspired by a simple principle: Training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.

A 1997 Malden High School graduate and MHS Golden Tornado Hall of Famer, Conefrey took the reins of the Athletic Department in 2016. Under Conefrey’s leadership, Malden High School and its athletic program was a pioneer in establishing Unified Sports as an integral part of its overall offerings in the Greater Boston League (GBL).

“We are fortunate to have a large, enthusiastic group of students in our high school who are challenged in their daily lives and love to take part in organized sports,” Conefrey said, noting that Malden offers basketball in the fall and outdoor track in the spring for its Unified Sports program.

Malden was the first GBL school to offer Unified Sports and in its first year traveled and hosted games and events with other schools in the Eastern Mass. region. Gradually, led by the leadership of Malden and Medford, the GBL began to expand and grow, and so did the Unified Sports aspect of athletic programs. At Tuesday’s event, dubbed the GBL Jamboree, nearly every GBL school was represented at the event, including Malden and Revere.

The teams are coed and include challenged student-athletes assisted by “helpers,” most of whom are members of the respective schools’ traditional boys and girls basketball teams. “I’ve yet to meet one of the helper student-athletes who has not benefited from their interaction with the Unified Sports players,” Conefrey said. “It enhances their lives and teaches them some important life lessons. It’s great to see.”

The Malden Athletic Director, who was a GBL All-Star basketball guard himself in the late 1990s, said many of the helper student-athletes from the Unified Sports games also volunteer in similar roles in the Unified Physical Education Classes – also offered at Malden High School – again one of the first schools to do so in the GBL.

Malden has four times been recognized as an exemplary “National Unified Sports School” by Special Olympics and is expecting a fifth such selection this year.

“It’s great to see everyone having such as great time,” Malden High School Principal Chris Mastrangelo, who was a Division 1 head boys basketball coach at Peabody High in the 2000s, said. “Our Unified teams work very hard and we appreciate all the work their coach April Edmunds and her assistant put in to make this all happen.”

“We are proud of what we have established here and intend on continuing to be successful in allowing all of our students to participate in some form of athletics,” Conefrey said. “Everyone wins with Unified Sports.”