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Victor Cruz released by New York Giants

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Call for entries in the Rossetti Memorial Juried Art contest

<p>Ellie Bartoli entered the basketball game, and the crowd roared.</p><p>She scored a basket, and the crowd roared.</p><p>She scored another and another and another and another &#8211; and the crowd continued to roar.</p><p>The crowd roared each time Ellie made one of her five baskets for a total of 10 points to aid the Lady Patriots basketball team to a 67-33 victory over Coughlin.</p><p>Ellie is a member of the Pittston Area girls basketball team and spent the season leading up to the Feb. 6 game doing managerial duties.</p><p>At the Coughlin gym, head coach Kathy Healey summoned Ellie to get in the game.</p><p>Not a big deal, you say? It is a really big deal &#8211; Ellie Bartoli has Down syndrome.</p><p>Years ago, individuals with Down syndrome, a chromosomal deficiency, were hidden away. Some were called mongoloids. Most never came out of their houses.</p><p>We&#8217;ve come a long way, baby. So far that people with special needs are finally considered part of the communities in which they live. They are made to feel as if they truly belong.</p><p>And people like Kathy Healey are helping them along.</p><p>After the game, Healey was quoted by Times Leader sports reporter Tom Robinson as having said, &#8220;It&#8217;s just incredible. Coaching is not just about wins and losses all the time. It&#8217;s about life lessons.</p><p>&#8220;Hopefully, we taught our players a life lesson. Everyone is special, and we need to accept everybody in our lives.</p><p>&#8220;This is one of the greatest moments in my coaching career.&#8221;</p><p>And that comes from a woman whose teams have won many championship games.</p><p>Not only did Healey teach her players a lesson. She helped the entire Pittston Area basketball community learn a lesson &#8212; and maybe even encouraged the Coughlin basketball community, which cheered right along, to learn a lesson as well.</p><p>According to Eileen Bartoli, her daughter has always loved basketball.</p><p>&#8220;She loves playing and having this opportunity, for her, was just overwhelming.&#8221; Eileen said after the game. &#8220;She is part of the team in every way possible, but to have her have some playing time was just tremendous.&#8221;</p><p>Earlier this school year, Ellie, a National Honor Society student, was chosen by her classmates as the 2016 Pittston Area Homecoming Queen and, just yesterday, was named Times Leader Female Athlete of the Week. It&#8217;s been a heckuva senior year for this young lady.</p><p>People like Ellie can teach the rest of us a thing of two about disabilities. Like, are they really disabilities &#8212; or just different abilities?</p><p>And the Kathy Healeys of the world help us realize people like Ellie are very much like the rest of us &#8212; with hopes, dreams and aspirations just like ours.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Pittston Area head coach Kathy Healey, right, embraces Ellie Bartoli after her 10-point effort against Coughlin. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/web1_Girls6.CMYK_-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Pittston Area head coach Kathy Healey, right, embraces Ellie Bartoli after her 10-point effort against Coughlin. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>

Our view: Life lessons from Pittston Area’s girls basketball team