University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA Basketball's TJ Cummings Scores At Special Olympics
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Junior TJ Cummings took time early Saturday morning to visit with the athletes of the Moorpark Special Olympic Basketball team as they competed in a tournament at Hart High School as part of the first annual Santa Clarita area games. The day began at 9am with an official opening ceremony which included a welcome by the host MC, special recognitions, and concluded with a torch lighting ritual. After that, the day belonged to the Moorpark Barracudas.
The boys and girls on the basketball team couldn't have been more excited to have TJ come to spend the day with them. "It's so great to see so many smiling faces. These kids are awesome.", said TJ of meeting the team for the first time. Some of the athletes were already sporting their UCLA hats and cheered for the Bruins, as others were marveling at the height of the UCLA forward. TJ played defense against the players as they were warming up their shots on a practice court outside of the gymnasium. They were passing, blocking out, rebounding and hitting lay-ups better than any of their competition that they faced on Saturday. TJ helped the Barracudas finish their warm-up period by showing them why he's a top player at UCLA...a couple of jaw-dropping slam dunks later, the team was off to get ready for tournament time.
As the team moved into the gymnasium for the first game of their tournament, Coach Rick pinned an orange ribbon on TJ's shirt, making him an honorary coach of the Moorpark team for the day. As the Barracudas frontline, Thomas and Kenny, dominated their opponents, TJ cheered on his team from the bench and even gave some motivational talks to the players in between quarters. The Barracudas rebounded strong, were aggressive in getting loose balls, and had a high shooting percentage to finish the game victoriously.
After beating their first opponents of the day, TJ and the team relaxed in a nearby field to chat and have some lunch to regain some energy for the remainder of the day. After each member of the team got to talk with TJ, ask him questions, got autographed hats and team pictures, they had to say goodbye as TJ's visit came to an end. But not before they got to see a few more UCLA slam dunks as he exited.
The Barracudas finished up the day with a victorious second game and a Special Olympics gold medal! Congratulations Barracudas!
A special thanks to Thomas, Kenny, Michael, Chris, Casey, Dani, Ryan, Hoppy, Chris, Julio, Clayton, Steven, Brandon and Coach Rick for letting UCLA Athletics be a part of their day!