Teen scores special bucket

[KFDM COOP]

Teen scores special bucket

By KARIN SHAW ANDERSON / The Dallas Morning News

[email protected]

ROCKWALL – It sounded like Elvis was in the building.

Mason Sevier sank the basketball neatly into the net Thursday, making the first basket of the game for the Cain Middle School Mustangs.

Watching from the front row, his father's face flushed, and his eyes watered.

"Everybody in there stood up and clapped and called his name," Cliff Sevier said.

It was a moment he and his wife, Teresa, didn't think they'd see.

"He's got Down syndrome," explained Mr. Sevier, a Rockwall City Council member.

When Mason was born, doctors suggested putting him in an institution.

Instead, his parents decided to raise him at home and send him to Rockwall schools, where he has been mainstreamed since kindergarten. His team's opponents were students he had known all through elementary school. Last year, he headed to Cain while his classmates moved on to Williams Middle School.

"He knows more students than I do," said Mason's special education teacher, David Gasewicz.

At Mr. Gasewicz's suggestion, Mason joined the school's "A" basketball team this season, suiting up for each home game but watching from the bench. He eagerly brings water to his thirsty peers and cheers them on.

"On the bench, he's always asking, 'When do I get to go in?' " said Mr. Gasewicz, who sits with Mason at every home game.

Coaches agreed before Thursday's game to let the 14-year-old eighth-grader make a layup to start the game.

The points didn't go on the scoreboard, but it didn't matter.

"It's all about being a part of" something, said Mrs. Sevier. "That's what he wants the most.

"Before this all started, he saw kids out on the football field, and he said, 'Mom, I want to play,' " Mrs. Sevier remembered.

"I started crying, because I had to tell him, 'No.' "

She sent an e-mail to a few friends Thursday morning to let them know that Mason was going to play in the game. Those friends sent it to their friends, and by the time the game began, hundreds were shouting Mason's name.

"It was amazing to see how things snowballed," Mrs. Sevier said.

Members of the seventh-grade cheer team made a last-minute change to their schedule and arrived in uniform, taking their seats in the stands right behind the Seviers.

Polly Redden had never met the Seviers, but she learned of them through friends after her son was born with Down syndrome.

Mrs. Redden, a third-grade teacher at Rockwall's Springer Elementary School, brought 4-month-old Bennett to see Mason play.

"It's such an inspiration for a child with a disability to see they can participate," Mrs. Redden said. "I could start crying."

Mrs. Sevier said Mason will want to watch video replays every day for years, even though his Mustangs ultimately lost to the Williams Wildcats.

Mason got a standing ovation from fans of both teams when he netted the ball, and that's what he'll remember, she said.

Mason stayed humble through it all.

"It's my team," he said. "My team."

__________________

[rhino1877]

Awesome.....that is what life is all about!