Work Hard, Play Hard

The Titans, an ABACORP-sponsored men's basketball team, was originally built in the winter of 2015 around Taylor Frankel, Administrative Executive at ABACORP. Employees and friends joined the team in support of Taylor and have enjoyed getting to know each other outside of work and on the court. Justin, ABACORP's Tool Manager, is the team captain this season. "None of us have played basketball together before so it was a challenge playing as a team, but each week has gotten better and it's been a lot of fun."

Adding to the basketball team are ABACORP's Key Accounts Manager, Jared, and Quality Engineer, Daniel. "I enjoy basketball," says Daniel. "I've been playing since I was a kid. It's nice to see the people I work with on a day-to-day basis in an outside activity."

(From left to right: Taylor, Justin, Daniel, Daniel, Travis, Jared)

"I'm having fun," Taylor explains, "Even though half of the team is returning, we've had to start from fresh. We had to get ourselves understanding the fundamentals and figuring out how to communicate as a team and to trust each other. That's mainly how this whole season became."

Taylor, 20 years old, suffered oxygen deprivation at birth, which has affected his hand coordination and speech and developed autism at 12 months old. However, through a lot of hard work and support, he has overcome many obstacles and challenges. When he's not working at ABACORP, he is an accomplished musician and plays bass guitar at several venues in the Valley. He graduated high school in 2014 and currently studies music theory at the Berklee School of Music. He has been playing his favorite sport of basketball since he was 12 years old. He's not your typical competitive athlete; he just loves to play. "You have to know and understand the common sense of having fun. It's important to respect each other, not get frustrated or mad at a call."

Taylor's zest for life is palpable. He loves to serve and help others, which reflects his Christian faith. Not only is Taylor a valuable member of the Titan basketball team, but he is an inspiration to his co-workers at ABACORP as well.