To be a student athlete at Block Island School in Rhode Island means committing to day-long commutes to compete in games.
The school — a K-12 school — is the only school on Block Island, a tiny island located 12 miles off the coast of Rhode Island.
In the summer, the island is home to 20,000 visitors a day, but only 1,000 people make the island their year-round home.
Typically, Block Island School — operated by and for full-time residents — has only a few dozen high school students enrolled, and only around 20 female students.
However, nearly all of the school’s female high school students participate in sports, building a special and resourceful bond.
“If we have one game, it takes the whole day,” Johana Marroqin, a high school student at the school, told “Good Morning America.” “We have to take the boat, then bus and all that stuff, and then we have to rush back, depending on how long a game is.”
If seas are too rough for the ferry to travel to the island, the student athletes have to spend the night off the island. And if just one or two players on each team are injured or unable to attend a game, they may not have enough players to compete.
Block Island School basketball player Abigail Willi said that at one game her freshman year, “we had five players.”
“We had seven on the team but two of the players couldn’t make it, so we had to go off island with five and play with no subs,” she said. “At the end of that game, we were also rushing for the boat.”
Like the student athletes, the assistant coach for the school’s girls basketball team, Roberta Closter, also plays many roles, working as the high school’s science teacher, National Honor Society coordinator and career pathways coordinator during the week and working at three different local restaurants each weekend.
“For me, I’m doing that for my family and my community so that we can live here,” Closter said. “Block Island just really allows you to become a really resourceful person.”
Closter said of the high school students she coaches and teachers, “They’re just a committed group of girls that uplift each other, and they’re kind, and they help one another — and for the love of the game, they come together as this basketball family and put their best foot forward every single day.”
In recognition of Block Island School’s commitment to its students and the students’ commitment to both athletics and academics, DonorsChoose, a nonprofit organization that supports public schools across the country, surprised the school Friday on “GMA” with a $5,000 gift card.
The gift card can be used by Block Island School to purchase sports equipment and school supplies for its students, according to DonorsChoose.