Video of 3rd graders celebrating their teacher nailing crazy basketball shot will warm your heart

Kathleen Fitzpatrick's third-grade class waited in anticipation as their teacher lined up a 'full-court' shot. They waited with bated breath as she dribbled the ball to prepare for the shot. The kids knew what was at stake. Fitzpatrick had promised them a hot chocolate party if she were to sink this shot. Fitzpatrick took the shot and the eyes of all the kids followed the ball. If that was Steph Curry, he'd have turned to celebrate, cause that one was destined to go in. With a class full of 3rd graders willing the ball to go into the net, there was no way Santa was going to disappoint. Go in it did. The celebrations that followed were rapturous and has gone viral on the internet. The joy was palpable as kids hugged each other and rushed towards their teacher to celebrate. It's certainly not a moment they'll forget. 

Kathleen Fitzpatrick is an elementary school teacher at Holy Trinity School in Washington, D.C., and was playing basketball with her kids at the school court when she made the 'hot chocolate' offer before sinking the shot. "I usually play basketball with them at recess, and I don't really take it lightly. I play as hard as I can," said Fitzpatrick in an interview with ESPN's Sage Steele on Thursday. She also opened up about her offer and going for it. She picked up a ball and told her third graders, "If I make this shot, we'll have hot chocolate on Monday as a class." With an assist from a kid dressed in a reindeer costume, Fitzpatrick "launched it" and it went in.

It's no wonder that the Georgetown teacher pulled off the crazy shot when you consider she's actually a former Division I basketball player at Rutgers. That kind of talent you never lose. Fitzpatrick was pleasantly surprised when legendary basketball player Vince Carter spoke to her about the shot. They actually pulled up an old clip of her sinking a game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer while playing college ball. Carter looked at the clip and said it was no wonder that she landed the shot under pressure. "That was an amazing shot, and you know, we talk about pressure, you've been through pressure, we've seen that shot," said Carter about the 3-pointer. Fitz played Division 1 ball at Rutgers and St. Joseph’s and led the team in 3-pointers during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons, reported The Huffington Post. 

He then joked that she was, if anything, under more pressure on the court at school. "But listen — tell me this: you're talking about pressure," the former NBA star continued. "You promised hot chocolate to these kids. Imagine you not making this shot and you having to hear it on Monday." The school principal Kevin McShane said, "The day before, she made the same shot after telling the kids that if she missed, she would cancel their upcoming math test,” said principal McShane. “As you can imagine, their reaction was a little different to that shot!”

Steele also touched upon the importance of teachers during the pandemic, especially the way they handled the class and students during the lockdown. Steele told her shot had infused a lot of happiness and hope into people's lives. Steele said she "brought smiles to the faces of so many people that you've never met and probably never will meet" with that incredible basket. Fitzpatrick herself spoke about the past year and dealing with the pandemic and quarantine. "It's been so insane the last year-and-a-half," said Fitzpatrick. "So just to have some fun, some laughter, some joy, and just forget about COVID for a few minutes has really been amazing." When asked about the Monday morning hot chocolate party, she replied, "It was awesome!"