by Jessica Easthope
It doesn’t take much to see Ben Hack’s talent; just pass him the basketball, and watch him shine.
But not many people are willing to give you a shot when you’re 25, with autism.
“The adults with autism community is underserved, underfunded, and always understaffed,” said Mary Beth Walsh, Ben’s mother.
When Hack aged out of his day programs, Walsh was told he wasn’t fit for group sports. His diagnosis left her without options.
That was until Mary Beth teamed up with her parish, St. Joseph’s Church in Maplewood, New Jersey, and CYO coach Gerry O’Connor.
“Everywhere there’s many, many young adults with autism who are bored, who don’t have enough to do, who don’t have recreation programs that work for them,” Walsh said. “So it’s easy to find them. And I just started with calling my friends.”
“I didn’t know what to expect,” O’Connor said. “I didn’t know what levels of autism we were going to encounter. And we have all different levels; it’s been an eye-opening experience for me.”
With a few phone calls, Walsh was no longer on the sidelines, and the St. Joseph’s Adults with Special Disabilities (ASD) Clinic was born.
“It’s not a heavy lift, and it can make a real impact on the lives of young adults who are really, often overlooked,” Walsh said.
“We just took the drills that I teach the little kids and just kind of narrowed them down and simplified them for these guys,” O’Connor said. “They just want to do what their brothers and sisters do. That’s all they want.”
For an hour every Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters, this gym is theirs. It’s a frenzy of inclusion. St. Joseph’s pastor, Father Jim Worth, wonders why the program’s model hasn’t been picked up by parishes and schools all over the country.
“It made perfect sense to do something like this, and it was so organic and natural that, you know, it just happened and was hugely successful,” Father Worth said. “Young adults wouldn’t have this, and you would think, now this has been going on for a couple of years, no one is mimicking it.”
The players who can join for free are coached by Gerry and a team of high school athletes.
“They’re doing service hours that they need for school or CCD, but once they do it, they come back,” O’Connor said. “I think if they completed their service, they would still come back next year, and the year after.”
If these players were accepted everywhere like they are at St. Joseph’s, Mary Beth believes maybe more people would see what they can add to a team and to the number on the scoreboard.
“The promise that the church makes to everybody who’s baptized is that you belong, and you belong forever with us, and we are living out that baptismal promise, really,” Walsh said.
“You cannot help but fall in love with Ben,” Father Worth said. “So Ben has been such a great teacher for me and the parish. Mary Beth is such an incredibly valiant defender and fighter for as many services as possible.”
“What time is basketball? 6 o’clock. What day? Tuesday, every week. We’ll never miss it,” Walsh said.
This program has changed Ben’s life, and all it took was putting a ball in his hand. Maybe that is the point.
The program is free and welcomes young adults with autism from anywhere.
It starts back up again on September 3 and will run for 8 weeks on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. at St. Joseph’s Church in Maplewood.
For more information or to register, you can contact Coach Gerry O’Connor at 201-341-4289.