Boston Celtics Kid Day a Big Hit

Kids Day with the Celtics is a spectacular event. I went to Kids Day at TD Garden to watch the Celtics play the Orlando Magic on December 17, 2023. There were 19,156 people in attendance at the game, and it seemed like most were kids. There were kids everywhere, and you could even hear it from the tone of the cheering that day. It was like a big show for kids, and the Celtics included kids in almost every part of the production. They also handed out one of the best basketball-themed activity books I have ever seen.

To start, there was a special anthem singer, Mirabel Weston, who is only 8 years old! She filled the area with a big voice and lots of cheers after. There were other kid entertainers, like an athletic unicycle group who played with kids on stilts. The kids on stilts looked even taller than Celtics center Kristaps Porziņģis, who is one of the biggest players in all of the NBA at 7’2”. Wow, that’s tall! The smooth kids dance troupe Lil Phunk danced with the Celtics dancers, and one kid even stole the show with a head spin.

Mascots for all of the New England sports teams came to the game: Blades from the Bruins, the Red Sox’s Wally, Pat Patriot, Slyde of the New England Revolution, Blaze from the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, and Crusher from the Lewiston, Maine Celtics joined Lucky the Leprechaun for some fun events, including a trampoline dunk contest. They invited kids to play in a dunk contest with them at center court too.

At half time, the Celtics honored a kid as part of their “Heroes Among Us” program. With the Heroes program, the Celtics give an award to individuals who have made an overwhelming impact on the lives of others. At Kids Day, the Celtics awarded 7 year-old Shayne Haynes-Ross who rescued a drowning toddler in a neighborhood pool. Shayne saw an unattended toddler struggling to stay afloat in the water and he acted quickly to swim over and pull the little girl out of the pool. Shayne then brought the little girl to the safety of her family. What a kid!

The kids I saw at Kids Days seemed just as talented as the Celtics, who beat the Magic 114-97 that night. This was the Celtics 14th win in a row at home and the second-best start of the season at home since 1958.

At the post-game press conference I asked Celtics Coach Joe Mazzulla what basketball meant to him as a kid, and he said that his coaches were important to him growing up. 

“I remember all my coaches’ names and the positive impact they had on me from fifth grade all the way to college," he said. "It is kind of the reason why I got into coaching because I never had a bad experience with a coach, and you can see the impact that they make on your kids and on people. They were helping me make the sport more fun.” 

I agree with Coach Mazzulla. Thanks to all the grown-ups that have a positive impact on kids, including those that made Kids Day so fun at the Celtics game this year!