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Towson Coach Using Basketball To Raise Autism Awareness

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Towson University's men's basketball coach Pat Skerry has been using his platform to increase understanding about autism.

As a founder of the Coaches Powering Forward for Autism initiative Skerry has helped boost acceptance of people with autism amongst coaches, players, and the larger collegiate athletics community. Since starting Coaches Powering Forward six years ago, more than 4,400 Autism Speaks puzzle piece pins have been provided to coaches, their staff and broadcasters to be worn the first weekend of February during live games.

With the support of Towson University and organizations like Autism Speaks, Skerry turned a very personal story—his son Owen is on the autism spectrum—into an initiative with a series of activities that culminate with the Autism Awareness Game. This year's game will be on Saturday, February 1, 2020 at 2 p.m. EST at Towson as they take on the College of Charleston. 

Today, I spoke with the longtime Towson hoops coach about the effort:

Andy Frye: A lot of people who are personally effected by autism are involved in promoting awareness. But in the thick of basketball season, is it hard to get coaches nationwide to wear pins that weekend?

Pat Skerry: My founding partner on Coaches Powering Forward (South Florida assistant coach) Tom Herrion, and I are always talking, always texting about it about how we make it better. But it’s an awareness campaign that’s gotten pretty good traction largely in part from help from Autism Speaks as well as the university here, and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, in promoting the upcoming game.

I think the biggest thing is first getting everyone the blue puzzle pins and a lot of the schools are good enough to register and participate in promoting the effort. And next week Tom and I are going to spend a lot of time texting, just to remind people to wear their pins. That’s everyone, including some of the bigger name rock star coaches in college basketball.

AF: So, does that mean you will be following up with Coach K, Jay Wright, Roy Williams, etc. about wearing their pins next weekend?

Skerry: Sure, we hit them with text messages and all those guys are great about doing it. Coaches and staff have a lot going on, so it helps to keep the conversation going. Tom and I get a lot of help from our schools and directors of sports information and others.

The most fun part of it is when you go home and watch games on national TV and you see coaches wearing them. I do think it brings awareness abut autism, and the struggles families face with their loved ones.

AF: When you have March Madness approaching what conversations do you have with players? Is it different for you versus the coaches at perennial powerhouse like a Kentucky or a Kansas?

Skerry: Towson’s grown incredibly over the years, and we’re right there with Maryland in terms of enrollment, with more kids on campus and more interest in our sport.

My players and I mainly talk about getting better, how we play better each game, who our opponent is and what our focus is that one game. We do pride ourselves on the fact that we’ve had a lot of players jump big in their player development.

For example, Towson’s the only team the history of college basketball to have a player sit out the first year as a red shirt and then become the conference player of the year. We picked Jerrelle Benimon up from Georgetown, where he wasn’t playing much, and he ended up being a key player. Later, he ended up playing pro internationally after some time with the Utah Jazz.

I don’t think the approach too much different, and I think the main thing is taking everything one game at a time, and not putting the cart before the horse. As a coach, sometimes you hone in on those players that have an appetite but are a little under the radar, and developing them leads to great success.

AF: As a busy parent of a child who is effected by autism, what kind of activities do you do as a family?

Skerry: It’s a daily thing. My younger kid is on the spectrum, and every single person who is on the spectrum is different. If you know one person with autism you know one person. Every person’s needs and experience are completely different.

For us, during offseason, our swim club is a big thing and the pool is a huge family activity. But my little guy loves coming to the games here (at Towson), and his brother plays basketball in high school and he loves watching him.

AF: Growing up as a player and later a coach, who did you idolize?

Skerry: Growing up in Massachusetts, I was a huge Celtics fan, so it was Larry Bird that was a hero and just in the way he played. As a coach now, I look to what (Kentucky head coach) John Calipari did, in overhauling the team and program at UMass. He led them to five consecutive Atlantic 10 titles and the (NCAA) Tournament.

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