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COURIER LIFE, F M BR B G EB. 15–21, 2019 27
PASS IT: Evan Eliassaint, left, and hoops star Ashley Battle
played fi eld hockey at PS 9 when she and other WNBA athletes
stopped by for recess. Photo by Caroline Ourso
Straight
ballin’!
WNBA pros join local
students for recess
BY COLIN MIXSON
Talk about hoop dreams!
Pint-sized athletes at a Prospect Heights elementary
school got a taste of the big leagues when
pros with the Women’s National Basketball Association
recently joined the kids for recess.
The Feb. 6 get together gave the fourth- and
fi fth-graders a chance to get out and play with positive
role models — who took it easy on their competition,
and provided plenty of positive feedback,
according to the woman who helped organize the
meetup.
“There were no aggressive slam dunks against
fourth graders,” said Deborah Brodheim, the director
of development for Playworks, a do-good group
that promotes athletics in schools. “It’s about being
out there, and lots and lots of high fi ves.”
Former players with hometown squad the New
York Liberty, including Ashley Battle, Taj McWilliams
Franklin, and Teresa Weatherspoon, along
with Washington Mystics guard Natasha Cloud
and the head of WNBA League Operations Bethany
Donaphin, joined 300 aspiring athletes on the
blacktop behind Underhill Avenue’s PS 9 to celebrate
National Women and Girls in Sports Day.
The special guests forwent any inspirational
lectures and got right down to business during the
25-minute play time, shooting hoops with some
kids, while joining others in classic recess favorites
including four square and tag, according to
Playworks bigwig Kim McCall.
The athletes’ visit is one of many physical-education
programs the do-good group stages at the
local learning house, where Playworks staff regularly
arrange recess programing and other athletics
based after-school initiatives, McCall said.
“PS 9 is a long-time partner of Playworks,” she
said. “We focus a lot on recess and after-school
sports leagues.”