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Football Team Helps Kid with Aspergers Score Touchdown (Video)
Football team helps Evan Reeder's dream come true!
And now for a heartwarming way to end your week… watch this video of a high school football team helping Evan Reeder, a teammate with Aspergers, score a touchdown.
Reeder is on his Illinois football team, but fears getting hurt, his mom explains in a letter to the town newspaper. Evan typically sits on the team bench rather than play, but that all changed in one amazing moment.
During this game, the coach worked with the coach of the other team to allow one more touchdown during the fourth quarter, letting Evan make a touchdown without any hands laid on him by the other team so he wouldn’t get hurt.
You have to read his mom’s letter of gratitude to both Evan’s coach and the opposing team’s coach. The players didn’t tackle him, yet pretended to run at him. Plus, his teammates ran with him all the way down the field.
Evan’s mom writes: “I truly don’t think I have ever seen such a display of kindness and support to a stranger in a sport activity. This entire display of unselfishness brought tears to my eyes. If only I could thank each and everyone one of your coaches and players I would.”
She adds, “One of the main supporters I would also like to thank would be all of you parents. You obviously have done an excellent job teaching and raising your children that everyone deserves a chance to feel good even if they are different or have special needs.”
“I will forever be indebted to your team, players, coaches, parents, and supporters for making September 11th a special day for my son to always remember,” Evan’s mom writes.
What a proud moment for everyone involved!
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2 Comments
AspieSide commented on Oct 01 11 at 9:02 amWhat a wonderful story! My 14 y.o. son is diagnosed with Asperger’s and they really just need understanding and encouragement and they can accomplish a lot. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Jesica commented on Oct 04 11 at 2:12 pmWhat a generous group of people! My only concern, though, is that an Asperger’s kid is high-functioning enough to know when something like that has been set up. So is this kid in on it and as thankful as his mom? If so, then even more kudos for doing something that made him feel included. If not, I worry about his self-esteem if and when he finds out it wasn’t a “real” touchdown.
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