@OW_Panthers Women’s Basketball takes part in friendly wheelchair basketball game at Henry Viscardi School

Old Westbury student-athletes teamed up for a game of wheelchair basketball against children with physical disabilities and rare illnesses

By: Courtesy of Old Westbury Sports Information (written by Harris Rappel)

Women's Basketball | 5/3/2016 4:40:00 PM

ALBERTSON, NY --- (www.OLDWESTBURYPANTHERS.com) Members of the SUNY Old Westbury women's basketball team took to the court April 14 to interact and participate in a friendly game of wheelchair basketball with students of the Henry Viscardi School in Albertson, New York.

Located at the Viscardi Center in Albertson is a private school that was founded in 1962 by Dr. Henry Viscardi Jr. and the first of its kind as a place for children with physical disabilities and rare illnesses could go to school, just like other children.

"The uplifting experience gave our student-athletes a new perspective and appreciation for what the Henry Viscardi School students take on daily," said SUNY Old Westbury head women's basketball coach Michael Krasnoff. "It was a great learning experience and we look forward to returning in the future."

Krasnoff, along with Old Westbury women's basketball student-athletes Tori Bellings, Alexis Hart, Monique Joseph, Imani Lariosa, Alexis Lopez, Antoinette Metoyer and Jasmine Robinson participated in the event.

The school offers parents of children with severe physical disabilities and who often require life-sustaining medical treatment throughout the day, a traditional education setting option that provides rigorous academics and opportunities for personal growth and leadership development.

Most of the students at the Henry Viscardi School use power wheelchairs and augmentative communication technology, and some require constant medical supervision. The student body consists of scholars with severe physical disabilities in grades pre-k through 12 (ages 3 to 21), many of whom are also medically fragile, has a wide variety of disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Spina Bifida, Traumatic Brain Injury, Ontogenesis Imperfects and Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

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