Oswego Unified basketball celebrates senior night

The Oswego Unified basketball team hosted senior night and members of the community filled the gym to show support for the athletes playing in their final home game. Playing in front of a crowd is not something this program would have seen last year in its inaugural season, but as the program evolves, so does the support.

“I think what we’re doing is we’re making it better every year for everybody and I think its been great for both groups of people our partners and our athletes because it’s a communication tool that’s out there,” head coach Brian Parrotte said. “I think the more we can teach our kids to communicate the more successful they are going to be in their life.”

Teaching life lessons is a central part of the program, learning lessons that extend beyond the court and carry with these athletes for the rest of their lives.

“Teaching somebody to work for someone else, instead of working for ourself,” said Parrotte. “So much of today’s society is ‘work for yourself, work for yourself’ but I think we have kids working for other kids and they see that and it’s modeled for other kids who start to do it. That kind of behavior is contagious.”

These lessons will be taught to more and more students as the Unified sports programs at Oswego are growing . Parrotte says there may be a creation of divisions soon due to the increase in teams and athletes participating.