Spirit of the season
Basketball players pass giving spirit to opponents

By Ambria Hammel, The Catholic Sun
January 4, 2007

Instead of passing the basketball to his teammate, one young player thought it made more sense to pass a new ball to each of his opponents.

His team embraced and helped execute the plan in an offensive move that helped level the playing field for an underprivileged team.

The fifth-grade basketball players at St. Thomas the Apostle School raised nearly $900 in roughly 10 days to purchase basketballs and equipment for the St. Catherine of Siena team.

The young donors arranged an afternoon of fun and fellowship with their opponents Dec. 18 to surprise the south Phoenix team with a basketball for each player and equipment for the school.

“We were here playing basketball and they didn’t have as much as our school did,” said St. Thomas the Apostle player Matthew Zabilski, who initiated the project. He recalled the Dec. 5 game on the St. Catherine of Siena School’s sole multi-use court.

Zabilski is used to having four basketball courts available at his school and couldn’t get the image of his opponent’s double-rimmed hoop, bare pole supporting the backboard and raggedy nets out of his mind.

“My son had mentioned it to me like three times… that their facilities weren’t that great. I think it touched him,” said Zabilski’s mom, Denise.

“So we kind of recognized it and told everyone,” said teammate Jack Hult.

The boys recruited the other St. Thomas the Apostle basketball team plus their own coaches in the fundraising effort. The players did extra household chores or withdrew money from their savings to donate to the St. Catherine of Siena team.

“I would like for their school to be as fortunate as our school,” St. Thomas the Apostle player Collin Tawney said.

Some parents matched the amount their child raised. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul also heard about their efforts and made a contribution.