ETHS teacher Jeffery Brock has been coaching a basketball team for the past 3 years at ETHS through the Chicagoland Area Alternative Education League or CAAEL established a basketball program at ETHS over 25 years ago, yet very few people are aware of this league.
CAAEL was first founded in 1976 by John Martin, an alternative school teacher from Stone Park, Illinois. His goal when creating the league was to use basketball, and other sports, as a way to inspire his students to do better in school by creating an inclusive and competitive environment. He established that in order to participate in the league students have to maintain good grades and attendance. This strategy was successful for Martin and translated to students at ETHS as well.
“The main goal is to provide a motivational outlet for students to perform better academically and behaviorally in the class,” Brock stated. “It’s a really motivational factor for a lot of the students to have better behavior in the classroom, in the hallways, and attendance. If you can’t keep up to those things, we don’t have them play.”
The basketball league has become an outlet for students to release energy during the day and feel motivated during the school week. Brock shares the positive impacts that the team has had on the classroom environment.
“It’s a pride factor for them that they can play on a team and have positive outcomes,” Brock said. “This is something that they enjoy.”
Brock started coaching after COVID-19 when the previous coach stepped down. Brock recognized the positive impact that the team had on his students and he couldn’t see the program get discontinued because of how special CAAEL was to the players.
ETHS athletics are highly competitive so students who don’t participate on the team through the athletic department have the option to play through CAAEL. CAAEL gives students the opportunity to play sports that they love and thrive in a team environment.
“Our basketball team got to play in Beardsley gym once last year and they thought that was the greatest thing,” Brock commented.
The games take place on Fridays during the school day where they play a variety of other teams in the Chicagoland area. These games are competitive but also hold a focus on sportsmanship and inclusivity. The skill level of players varies greatly on every team so giving everyone fair opportunities is of utmost importance to the program.
“It’s just hard because you have to tell a kid who is really good that this kid here needs a chance and opportunity. And it’s not about scoring 30 points, it’s about being a good team player and being a good motivational coach and helping out every kid on the court,” said Brock.
The teamwork seen on the court teaches the players important skills in the classroom and in life as well. Brock has seen the impact of teamwork and how more experienced players assist newer players on the court.
“The [experienced] players are setting them up to make shots, and letting them take shots. And then we have to do that against some of our competitive teams, because, our competitor teams that we play against are not always super good, so they have to be able to show good sportsmanship.”
At the end of each game, both teams come together and pick two players that displayed sportsmanship and they are awarded a ribbon. Acknowledging sportsmanship at the end of each game promotes inclusivity that CAEEL founder, Martin, based the program on.
Brock also helped coach the flag football team where athlete junior Malcolm Tompkins found a love for the sport and his teammates.
“Last year my other friends decided to play and wanted me to join with them,” Tompkins explained.
Tompkins had fun playing with all of the players and their bond on the field is obvious. All the players get to play a variety of different positions but Tompkins said that he liked the blocking aspect of the game the best. One of Tompkins’s favorite memories and one of the biggest accomplishments of the team as a whole this season was their win in their homecoming game.
“The first time we played [flag football] was against Connections Academy. We played for homecoming and we won. It was a hard game,” said Tompkins.
This was a huge win for the team and something that Tompkins reflects on often. Being on the team has positively impacted Tompkins in many ways. When asked if being on the team motivated him to get good grades in school Tompkins simply replied, “Yes.”
The CAAEL athletics program is unknown to many at ETHS. The feats made by both teams, basketball and flag football, often go unnoticed. ETHS as a whole, and other athletic programs, could learn a lot from the athletes and coaches that participate in this program, including the emphasis on inclusivity and motivation.
