Licking Heights girls basketball team hosts annual Alzheimer's awareness game Feb. 4

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the time of the game.

For Licking Heights Girls Basketball Coach Sonya Glover, basketball is more than just a sport — it’s an outlet for grief, a powerful force for building community and a battlefield in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. However, fighting for a cure isn’t something Glover does by herself — she has both her team and her community on her side.

On Feb. 4, the Lady Hornets will host their annual Alzheimer’s awareness charity game, open to all, starting at about 12:45 p.m. in the main gym of Licking Heights High School. The Hornets will take on the Zanesville Blue Devils.

Alzheimer’s awareness is a personal mission for Glover. In 2017, following her mother’s diagnosis with the disease, Glover quit her job and moved her mother from Cleveland to her home in Reynoldsburg so she could care for her full time.

"My passion comes from a place of a daughter’s love for her mother," Glover said.

While serving as her mother’s caretaker, basketball became an outlet for Glover. She had played the sport all throughout school and met many of her lifelong mentors.

"Licking Heights rescued me by allowing me to coach for the middle school," said Glover. "I was thinking I’d volunteer and help out the school, but the school actually helped me."

Glover said then-principal Tiffane Warren and then-assistant principal Corey Stroud were very supportive of the idea of a charity game to benefit Alzheimer’s research.

"The parents and players rallied around me. I felt a love not just for my mom, but my Licking Heights community," she says.

In June 2020, Glover lost her mother. Soon afterwards, another opportunity to help process her grief and continue her mother's legacy came along — the head coach position for the high school girls basketball team was open.

"In times like these, you’re at your worst moment, but just around the corner is your best moment," Glover said. "I was dealing with the loss and received a call from Ms. Warren about taking the job. I was thinking about how Ms. Warren was the first person to help make this happen, and now this opportunity was available when I was dealing with grief."

Thanks to community support, the awareness game grew to include 50/50 raffles, gift basket auctions, bake sales, free throw contests and yearly donations from families and organizations. Last fall, Glover’s team joined her in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in downtown Columbus.

Along with developing her players as athletes, Glover hopes she helps them recognize the signs of Alzheimer’s so they can support their own families in the future.

"I’m not just developing players, I'm investing in young ladies who will be an intricate part of society and will be phenomenal women one day," she said.

Above all, Glover wants her players to realize just how much of an impact they can make with their athletic talents.

"My vision is that we can be bigger than basketball. It’s not just what we do on the court, it’s what we do and how we impact the people who are connected to us," she said. "We aren’t just players, we’re people in a society who are tied together. You have to stand together and fight for something bigger than yourself. Lady Hornets basketball is in the fight."

To date, the team has raised over $5,000 for the Central Ohio chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. To donate to the Lady Hornets’ team participation in the 2023 Walk to End Alzheimer’s, visit the district website.

Information submitted by Licking Heights Local Schools.

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Heights girls basketball team hosts annual Alzheimer's awareness game