The Mercy Mustangs, Mercy Home’s basketball team, finished out an undefeated season with their biggest win yet, the Illinois Inter-Agency Association (IIAA) basketball championship game. After winning the first game by 33 points, they then captured the win for the championship by 22 points.
The IIAA provides young men and women in residential treatment programs like Mercy Home the chance to compete in various sports and recreation activities. A number of our young men participated throughout the season. In order to take part in the basketball league, our kids had to have both good grades and good behavior consistently throughout the previous week. The IIAA league is a great opportunity for our kids to learn teamwork and sportsmanship, as well as play a fun sport.
In addition to winning all of their games this season, Mercy Home also won the Sportsmanship Award. The director of the basketball league and the referees both said that our team had the best sportsmanship of all teams that competed.
“We encouraged players on both teams, and demonstrated great leadership qualities,” Justin Earls, the coach of the Mustangs, said.
Several of our young men took home additional awards: Taiveon was acknowledged for having great leadership qualities; Dorian was acknowledged for his shooting ability and not missing a shot the entire tournament; and Rashaun was acknowledged as the best defender and overall athlete in the tournament.
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