Rachel Haske helps the coaches, joins workouts, and cheers the players on. Courtesy | Morgan Litwiller

Rachel Haske has found her soul sisters.

Twenty-eight year old Haske, who has Down Syndrome, joined the women’s basketball team this summer as assistant manager. Originally from Ypsilanti, Michigan, Haske now lives in Hillsdale and comes to campus to help the team and coaching staff with every practice. Haske also joins in workouts, cheers the team on, and gives lots of high fives. 

“They’re like a sisterhood and a family that I never had,” Haske said. 

Head coach Brianna Brennan met Haske and her mother Diane — who works as a receptionist at the Roche Sports Complex — through the Hillsdale United Brethren Church where they attend services. Brennan recruited her as an assistant manager for the team after being named head coach in the spring.

“I felt like she would thrive around our players, and our players would love her really well too,” Brennan said. “She has a great personality, she’s hilarious, and she’s very intelligent. She picks up on a lot and isn’t afraid to make fun of our players. She’ll tease them, and they’ll tease her which is just fun to see.”

Haske said she wants to challenge herself through her role on the team and become an advocate for other people with Down Syndrome.

“I’ve been bullied my whole life because I’m different,” Haske said.

Haske said that has changed at Hillsdale. She said she loves the women on the team and feels respected by them despite her differences. 

“I think the best thing she’s ever said to me is ‘I have Down Syndrome, but it’s never going to keep me down,’” assistant coach Abbey Bartoszewicz said. “She’s well aware she has Down Syndrome but knows she has no limitations and can do anything everyone else can do.”

According to Diane, being around the players is like having sisters again for Haske, who is the youngest of seven children and lives with her parents in Hillsdale.

“It has totally changed her,” Haske’s mother said. “She’s got confidence.”

The change goes both ways according to sophomore Payton Adkins. Rachel has positively impacted the environment of the team and continually draws the players together into a tighter community, Adkins said.

“She brings us even closer and gives us someone to look at when we’re down or put our focus into,” Adkins said. 

Adkins said Haske gives everyone a chance to smile and be goofy. Adkins challenges Haske to dance battles before and during practice, and Haske always wins by breaking out a new move or dropping into the splits. 

“She brings a lot of positivity to the team,” Adkins said. “I know some days, at least for me, it’s kind of hard to come in here and push yourself for that two hours, but coming in here, seeing Rachel smile and cracking jokes with you, it makes it a lot easier to get through practices and want to come here and be here.”

According to senior Ashley Konkle, Haske supports every woman on the team and has even given each player her own personal nickname. Konkle said she has a way of drawing everyone she talks to into the present moment.

“We’ll come out of the locker room before practice, and she’ll just look at you and be like, ‘You need a hug, don’t you?’ She just knows,” Konkle said. “It makes you smile and just makes you grateful for that awareness because a lot of us have so many different things going on in our mind when it comes to school and basketball. Our minds always go a million miles an hour, and we don’t really get to focus on everyone around us in that moment.”

For assistant coach Morgan Litwiller, Haske is a model of gratitude, one of the core values of the team. 

“She shows up every day with a smile on her face, and she is the kindest person in the gym, and she knows exactly who she is. She places her identity in Christ and will let you know about it,” Litwiller said. “For me, it’s like a challenge. I can come on the court and be down and blue, and she’s out here and knows exactly who she is. It reminds me I need to be that way too.”