The story about a shared past, a shared love for basketball, and a shared desire to help children with autism

Kyle Anderson and Macky Bergman first met in 2008. Kyle had just finished his first year at Paterson Catholic and was starting to gain the reputation for being one of the nation’s top high school players. Macky, after graduating and playing 4 years of college basketball at the University of Rochester, was beginning his career as a skills development trainer, under the mentorship of Coach Joe Hahn, who was training Kyle at the time.

Macky worked for Coach Joe from 2008-2010, and witnessed as Kyle honed his skills and climbed the high school rankings. In 2010, Macky resigned as Coach Joe’s assistant and founded Steady Buckets in New York City.

Steady Buckets (SB) is an inclusive and innovative basketball and leadership development program, FREE for ALL kids aged 4-18. The program’s objective is to develop hard working, resilient, empathetic, and confident individuals who will make a positive contribution to their communities.

Since 2010, over 20,000 players have participated in SB’s fun and challenging workouts. Along the way we discovered a better approach to playing youth sports which minimizes adult involvement while empowering children to be leaders and take ownership of the game.

While Macky continued his basketball journey as an educator, coach and community organizer, Kyle continued to thrive as a player, ultimately leading to an 11 year (and counting) NBA career with the Spurs, Grizzlies, Timberwolves, Warriors and Heat.

While the two saw each other every few years at Coach Joe’s gym, they mostly fell out of touch. Until Macky, while researching which NBA players have children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), read about Kyle’s son Kameron. Kameron was five years old and had been diagnosed with Autism at age 2. Macky’s son Cyrus was six and had also been diagnosed at the same age. When Macky read about Kameron and Kyle’s passion for helping children with autism, he knew he had found a dream partner to pursue his vision to make youth basketball programming more accessible for children with ASD and to make basketball more popular in the autism community.

When Cyrus was diagnosed with ASD in 2021, Macky immediately started planning a spacial Steady Buckets workout for neurodiverse children. The vision was both altruistic and selfish. He wanted to make Steady Buckets and SB’s approach to skill development accessible for players with ASD and he wanted to learn more about children like Cyrus So he could be better understand his own son. “I had spent my career helping neurotypical children thrive on and off the basketball court, but I was clueless in how to help my own son. I wanted to help children who were being underserved, but selfishly, I wanted to develop my own skills in bringing out the best in children similar to Cyrus so I could be a better dad.”

In 2024 alone, over 200 players with ASD have participated in SB’s free ASD weekend workouts. Here is one SB mom’s description of her sons transformation:

I spent the whole night thinking about his transition and have not slept in amazement.

I think,  the first was that I was honest with you and told you that he was on the spectrum.    

By default you created a culture to ensure his success.  He likes being alone and it’s because at times he doesn’t feel fully integrated and welcomed.

You selected specific kids of certain temperament to be with him and you gave him space to observe and spent time with him while encouraging him.  Many times at the beginning, I worked from my phone and laptop closed by in case he didn’t want to stay, was not being treated right; since the calls never came , I went back to the business as usual feeling that he was cared for. 

Brandon has become confident in his skin and with his body. I was always afraid that he was unaware or unable to control his strength.  I watched from afar getting a rebound and as others tried to take the ball his reaction was measured and appropriate.  He laughs more, he walks with pride and confidence.  He is open to new things.  He jokes more and understands direction / instructions better.  I actually believe that will help with his learning.  I watched him transition from seating alone under the tarp to seating next to his teammates , to yesterday, I saw him standing up , cheering loudly, clapping and saying let’s go to his teammates. 

I watched him transition from ready to sneak out at first to now staying to say goodbye to the others.  

I don’t know how or what you said to prep the kids or the coaches, they have created a real caring , supportive and engaging environment for him.   

I witnessed his peers saying, great job B.  Are you coming next week ? I won’t be there but will be there the following.  I will see you then.    And giving him high five and saying see you tomorrow .

I watched him get on those Citi bikes with the others when they are early as opposed to staying alone.  He is blending in more

Coach Ali has such pride when he speaks of him that touches my soul.  All of the coaches have been amazing and have created a safe learning space for him.  He has learned to be more collaborative and interactive.  

He is focused on eating healthy, on taking care of himself and caring more about how he presents himself. He walks with pride , stands tall and makes eye contact more.  

He is assigned chores at home, when he fails to do them , i threaten to pull him out of camp and he gets to them ASAP.  When I got your text about getting someone to pick him up I actually thanked GOD that he placed you in my path.  He got himself ready independently .  He now says, “trust me, I got this”  to me lot so I am learning as well to give him more space because he is so confident.

The magic recipe is all of the structure that you placed around him that are clicking to expand his emotional, physical and social growth.  

Coach Eommon said, he showed him Google Maps and somehow Brandon memorized it. That not something I ever thought of. 

You are treating him with kindness not pity and at times people confused the two.

He also no longer say I can’t do certain things- he is focused on trying harder!

As word spread and families started to attend, the feedback was overwhelming. Parents were calling Steady Buckets the most impactful form of therapy they’ve found. “I told them it was just basketball practice, but through conversations, I started to pin point what was so successful about my approach. On the one hand, what we were doing was just basketball practice, but there were some nuanced details that made it work.”

Click here to read the Steady Buckets approach to training youth basketball players with ASD.

Two separate visions to grow a love for basketball in children with ASD

Vision 1:

Steady Buckets offers NYC youth basketball players over 100 hours of free programming every week. While our ASD program only accounts for 3 hours, it has a tremendous impact on the children and families who participate. Rather than trying to expand SB into a national non-profit, we hope to encourage other like minded youth programs from around the country to join us in offering one or two ASD workouts per week.

We want to make it easy for program directors to say yes. They already have the gyms, equipment, coaches and organizational infrastructure needed to run high quality basketball practices, but often lack key skills needed to succeed with the ASD population. By using our “playbook” and inviting coaches to observe our program in action we aim to empower them to take on this unique new challenge.

* If funding is needed, We will raise money to provide funding to support these partner programs under the conditions that they meet the following criteria:

) all programming must be free of charge

) PLayers of all levels are welcome to join

) Coaches train with Steady BUckets and receive certificate upon completion

) programs participate in surveys to track the players’ progress to help us better understand how basketball benefits children with ASD (optional for families to participate)

We hope to create a cohort of youth sports organizations who agree to follow our play book and share our values in better serving neurodiverse children who wish to play sports and be part of a team.

Vision 2:

Convince the NBA to create a league wide “Autism Acceptance Night” when teams agree to give away tickets to children with ASD, invite them on the court for high five lines and national anthem buddies, and turn down the volume and brightness of lights in their arenas for the first half of the game.

Many families of children with ASD avoid over stimulating environments like professional sporting events, but when they do attend they often have a great time. Autism Acceptance nights would aim to make children with ASD and their families feel welcome and encourage them to attend by rolling out a “red carpet” and making thoughtful concessions to maximize comfort.

On April 10, 2025 Steady Buckets tested this vision in partnership with the Brooklyn Nets. SB purchased $30,000 worth of tickets (*sponsored by Mavic Capital) and gave them away to families in our ASD community. Thirty young basketball players with ASD stood on court with players from the Nets and Hawks for the playing of our national anthem and another 80 of our players participated in the high 5 lines as their NBA hero’s ran onto the court.

The feedback was again tremendous, with many families attending their first game, staying until the end and panning on coming back for more games next year.

Click here for parent testimonials and pictures from our first annual Autism Acceptance night

Where does the story go next…

Kyle and Macky are putting together a team of supporters who share our vision to grow the love for basketball within autism children around the world. Will you join them?