Michael Plansky: Using Basketball to bring young People With Disabilities and Student-Athletes together
Michael Plansky is the CEO and founder of You’re With Us!. He had a conversation with the Basketball Strong Podcast, in which they dived into how Michael’s personal experiences had shaped his philosophy of coaching and changing the world. Please listen to Michael Plansky: Using Basketball to Bring Young People with Disabilities and Student-Athletes Together.
from the Basketball Strong Podcast:
Basketball is in Michael Plansky’s blood. Two of his brothers won state titles in high school, his dad coached his sister’s teams to another state championship, and his brother Mark played on Villanova’s 1985 NCAA championship team. After his own successful playing career in both basketball and baseball at Fairfield University ended, Michael decided to move into coaching. After serving as an assistant at Brandeis University for four years, Michael learned from the legendary Tom Davis at the University of Iowa.
He then moved on to Saint Michael’s College, where the men’s team won their postseason conference title. As they went on to the NCAA Tournament, Michael’s twins were born prematurely at 26 weeks. Soon after, he accepted the head coaching job at Salve Regina University. On the way to practice for the team’s conference tournament, Michael found out that his son Max had cerebral palsy. After leading Salve Regina to a regular season championship and program wins record, he took Endicott College to two conference tournament titles and NCAA berths. Following roles as an athletic director and a leader of a veterans’ charity, Michael founded the non-profit You’re With Us, which began after Northeastern University’s basketball team welcomed Max into their team and their hearts.
In this episode, Michael shared: How his father’s cancer battle inspired him to become his best on and off the court, what Tom Davis taught him about coaching philosophy, how he coped with parenting premature twins and a player getting meningitis during his first season as a head coach, why Coach Bill Coen and the Northeastern University basketball team changed his son Max’s life, and what You’re With Us is doing to empower teens and young adults with disabilities.
“The Basketball Strong Podcast brings together experts, legends, and hidden gems of the game to share their stories alongside the science of preparing your body to be basketball-strong.” https://www.basketballstrongpodcast.com/