He inspires with more than shots

The Phildelphia Inquirer waves the pom-poms for Brad Hennefer, featuring this “guy’s guy” in a major article as well as video on the paper’s website.

Hennefer, a senior at Cherry Hill High School East in Cherry Hill, NJ, is thought to be the only boys’ varsity basketball player with Down syndrome in the country. Coverage of Hennefer’s performance on the court poses a challenge to public stereotypes about people with intellectual disabilities.

The video includes footage of B-Rad playing and interacting with his team, as well as interviews with him, his coach and a teammate.

From the article:

He is like any player, said Logan Marro, captain of the Cougars. Except that he’s a little more popular.
“When Brad gets in the game, it’s the best part of the season,” Marro said. “Anyone with that work ethic is a real part of the team..”

… Drew Berlinsky was Hennefer’s partner for the very first passing drill freshman year. They eat lunch together. Berlinsky wrote his college application essay about Hennefer, and is amazed at his friend’s progress.

“He inspires us,” Berlinsky said. “He goes out every practice and he gets better. It makes me think, ‘If Brad can do that, I can do it, too.’ “

From the video:

Coach John Valore: Our seniors have been with him for four years. It has been nothing but a great opportunity for both Brad and for the team.

Earlier posts start here.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 10th, 2008 at 10:13 am and is filed under Down syndrome, NOT2BEMISSED, exercise/sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post