A team of middle school boys were in the middle of a basketball game when they noticed something happening in the stands that had them rushing off the court to take action.
Desiree Andrews is a cheerleader in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and she happens to suffer from Down’s syndrome. She has never let this stop her from achieving her dreams and she was overjoyed when she made her school’s cheerleading squad.
During a recent basketball game, however, Desiree caught the attention of some fans for her team’s rival school, and they began to bully her. When three players from her school saw this, they immediately rushed to her side to defend her.
Friends Chase, Miles, and Scooter rushed off the court to help Desiree, who goes by “D.”
“The kids in the audience were picking on D, so we all stepped forward,” Chase said.
“We were mad. We didn’t like that. We asked our sports director to talk to the people and tell them not to make fun of her,” 14-year-old Miles recalled.
Since this incident, the boys have befriended Desiree and have even been walking her to class to make sure nobody bullies her in the halls!
Cliff Andrews, Desiree’s father, broke down in tears when he heard what the boys had done for her. He explained that she had been inspired to take up cheerleading by a character on the hit show “Glee.”
“They have a character with Down syndrome who is a cheerleader, and she said, ‘If she can be a cheerleader, I can be a cheerleader,’” he said.
The entire school has since rallied behind Desiree, and at the last few basketball games, the crowd has chanted “Whose house? D’s House!” Athletic Director Timothy Nieman has even had a banner hung with this phrase on it!
“This is what standing up, being a true team, not only a basketball team but a team of people that are going to support somebody,” Nieman said.
We applaud these three young men for helping Desiree when she needed it most!
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