Mariner hosts inaugural unified middle school tournament

Cape Henlopen School District hosted its first unified basketball tournament, pitting the district’s three middle schools against one another in a round-robin play day Feb. 7 at Mariner Middle in Milton.

“They were excited to be out here; since we split the three middle schools, they know someone at all of the middle schools, so it's fun for them to come and see their friends that they haven't seen this year,” said Lindsey Underwood. “The gym was rocking. You can hear the excitement and the cheers, and so I think they just got super excited. It's not every day you get a gym full of people cheering for you, so I think that was really special.”

Underwood led the Mariner squad, while Lizzie Shea was in charge of newcomer Fred Thomas.

“I think my players enjoyed every aspect of this tournament today; being able to see my players interact with the other schools that they might see as competition, being in the same district,” Shea said. “With three different middle schools, being able to see them all together and play is what is amazing to me.”

Players also got a chance to connect with members of the Cape High unified basketball team, who were there with coach Katie Collick to fulfill support roles and officiate games.

“When they say Cape proud and talk about Cape as a community, it's one of those things that really shows it – that our high school kids can come in the middle school and come to the elementary schools,” Underwood said.  “Lina [Frederick] and Macy [Steinwedel] are here and are great examples. They're my captains for [lacrosse], and they are just super positive. They're excited to be here, and they are just spreading the joy that they naturally have.”

“My favorite moment of today was just being able to see everybody play so well and with sportsmanship, being positive and picking each other up when someone is down,” Shea said.

Cape will host a unified middle school soccer tournament sometime in the spring, but no date has been set yet.