Monday, April 21, 2025
South Side High School has changed its athletics department, which now includes Challenger Basketball, which is designed to empower students with intellectual disabilities in Life Skills and Pathways classes to be star athletes.
The games use rally scoring, just like regular basketball. General education students are on the court to make sure every athlete gets a turn with dribbling and shooting on their own. The Challenger league has no division or conference, so games are organized specifically for the overlapping strengths of the two playing teams.
“Every basket is two points, unless they are shooting from outside the three-point line, which they can earn their three-point mark,” Patricia Takach, the Challenger Basketball coach, said. She is also a special education teacher who coaches regular soccer and lacrosse teams in the district.
“Typically we don’t see too much fouling or too many jump balls or steals, but anything is possible,” she said. “We allow everyone to at least get in their offensive area, and if we miss a shot, maybe they’ll get a second shot and get another opportunity to score.”
The student athletes expressed that they absolutely love playing.
“The games that I played were good,” Luke Schauf, number 71, said. “I did so well and I had so much fun in Challenger Basketball. Can’t wait for our next game in Garden City.”
Schauf played the third and sixth quarters of the game.
“He tells everybody, every day, about how he loves Challenger Basketball, and how many points he’s scored, and how he enjoys meeting people from other schools,” Catherine Schauf, Luke’s mom, said. “This has just been such an incredible experience for him. I mean, I didn’t know how it was going to go. Ever since he started he’s been so enjoying being a teammate and cheering all of his teammates on. I love coming to the games as well.”
The league’s first home game on March 3 was broken into six quarters, each five minutes long. But at other games, the quarters last different time lengths, there are different numbers of quarters and they rotate the players differently. During that game, they had 16 players in groups of five.
The student athletes also love that they get their own jerseys.
“This team allows our guys to have a uniform,” Takach said. “They can wear their school spirit, school colors, proudly. They have fans in the stands. The cheerleaders show up for them. They are the stars. And they are not somebody who is just on the sidelines being a waterboy or just there to be present. They are the competitors.”
