A former college roommate pointed out this article to me last week, as it was my high school. (Greece Athena is about halfway between Arcadia and Olympia high schools.)
Besides the fact that the opposing team being spanked was Spencerport (hee hee), I was impressed by that part where the kid missed badly his first two trips down, but had the confidence to keep trying.
(Just noticed Matt's post before mine. The article mentioned that he was 5-6. While he can shoot, he probably would have had trouble guarding taller players on defense.)
I don't want to give the coach too much flak, because dressing your team manager for the last home game, and putting him in with a big lead is a class thing to do. We should commend this kind of coaching decision, even if the kid is a quadraplegic and he simply wheels himself onto the court.
However, in 4 minutes this kid drains 6 of 7 tres and scores 20 points, and the entire rest of the season he played for neither the varsity NOR THE FREAKIN' JV?! What the heck is going on here? Is the coach assuming an autistic kid can't play without looking at this particular kid's ability?! Most coaches I know of could find some role for any kid, regardless of his alleged lack of height, who is capable of shooting 50% or better from 3-point land, especially on the JV team.
I don't want to fry this coach because as I've said, he clearly is a class act. But NOT dressing this kid for every remaining game is disrespectful to the kid, AND limiting his coaching options unnecessarily.
Matt
I saw this, and I thought it was great - it's what sport should be all about. It was great to see his joy and the joy of his fellows in the stands! I love seeing something like this.
