Sands leads Wheatland-Chili Boys Basketball versus Elba

Posted By on Feb 5, 2016 | 0 comments


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Friday, February 5, 2016

 

What a great moment in Wheatland-Chili last night, as the Wildcats’ Zachary Sands scored his first basket as a varsity player. Following the game which Elba won 44-33, Zach – a Wheatland-Chili student with an intellectual disability – received an immense amount of support on social media, and from those in attendance.

“Zach comes to all of our games, attends and participates in practice, and I often catch him waiting outside the gym for someone to let him come in and shoot. All the boys love having him around,” said Wheatland-Chili head coach Scott Lund following the game. “Elba was very gracious and supportive of Zach tonight and I am privileged to have known him these past 6 years since he was in 7th grade.”

As far as the Lancers were concerned, they too felt honored to take part in such a great moment.

“It was an absolute privilege to be a part of a moment like that for Zach,” remarked Elba head coach Ciaci Zambito this morning. “That moment will stay with him forever. That’s what makes sports so great. We are all proud of him.”

Zach has cerebral palsy and although he was able to play modified basketball, his intellectual disability prevented him from playing after that. In the future for Zach, he will stay in school through Wemoco until he is 21 – according to Lund – at that point he will look to find a job in the sports realm. “He will make a great team manager someday,” added Lund.

From what I have gathered over the past few days, it is not only Zach’s determination in life which leads so many to gravitate towards him, but also his determination in athletics – as he refuses to allow his intellectual disability to prevent him from inspiring everyone who has come into contact with him over the years.

Congratulations to Zach.

Full video – IMG_9399

Thank you to Joe Bordonaro for the video

 

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Batavia’s Best of the Night (02/04/2016) – A Wheatland-Chili Basketball player recorded tonight’s top-performance

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