PEABODY — The Thomas Carroll Elementary School gym was full of smiles Tuesday evening when City Councilor-At-Large Tom Gould’s Challenger basketball program teamed up with the Knights of Columbus (K of C) Leo Council #508 to hold a free throw championship.
Challenger brings together volunteers from around the community and youths from the area with physical and mental disabilities, many of whom have been coming every week for years, to shoot hoops.
This week was special, however, as the K of C organized a special competition where different age and gender groups faced off to see who could make the most free throw shots.
“There are three age groups: a girl and a boy will get a trophy in each age group, every student will get a certificate and a medal, and then we will have a pizza party for them,” Grand Knight John Sacramone said. “We used to open these up to the public, but we weren’t getting a lot of kids anymore. We knew doing this with Challengers would get a lot of kids.”
One basketball enthusiast and self-proclaimed “best shooter in Massachusetts,” Brett Gray, has been joining Challenger basketball every week for 22 years, where, even though he never passes the ball, the room is always filled with friends.
“It feels like a whole community coming together,” Gray said.
Another Challenger athlete, George Mitsiadis, sported a Celtics shirt and proclaimed his love for the post, a popular sentiment around the gym.
A math teacher at Masconomet Regional High School, Mike Kachinski, has been volunteering to help out with the program for a few months and has seen firsthand the ability basketball has to bring a community together.
“They have the little hoops, you can dribble the ball, you can play catch. There’s a lot of different ways they can adapt to different skills,” Kachinski said. “I’ve known Tom Gould for a very long time. I grew up in Peabody, and he’s always been helping others.”
One of Kachinski’s important tasks was to get the rebounds of Danny Spagnola, a prolific free throw shooter with a record of 131 straight makes.
Spagnola was the winner of the contest’s 15+ age group championship, the fruits of three years attending the Challenger basketball nights and hours of putting up shots.
“Danny Spagnola, when he won, he was cheering, and really, that makes it all,” Sacramone said. “This is a big deal for these kids, as you can see.”
Other town officials at the event included Peabody Police Chief Thomas Griffin, whose daughter Jessica won the Most Improved Player award that night.
“In the summertime, we do a baseball program,” Griffin said. “It gets them out of their shell, it gets them playing with kids on their skill level, and it lets them have fun.”
Gould has been organizing the weekly basketball program for more than 30 years, allowing the entire community to come together for a fun night of making new friends and reconnecting with old ones.
“Anytime you can get kids together that don’t have that chance to participate in other education and other sports programs, it’s nice,” Gould said. “It’s all about being social. It really is. The parents get them as much socializing as they can.”
Indeed, the Carroll Elementary gym was filled with parents proudly cheering on their kids and snapping pictures to remember these special moments forever.
Peabody parents Lucie and Keith Ridley, who have been bringing their nine-year-old son Izzy to Challenger for three seasons, got to see their child bring home a trophy.
“It’s amazing. To meet kids that are also autistic, the socialization, and the volunteers are absolutely amazing,” Lucie Ridley said. “He’s made so many friends here, and he just loves coming every week.”
