High school crowd goes wild after special needs player makes final basket
Feb 6, 2017, 2:41 PM
Lainy Fredrickson entered the game for the Norman High School Tigers with only seconds left on Friday night.
The game was already in hand for her team, but Lainy’s made basket caused the arena in Norman, Okla., to go wild. There was even a court storming.
Fredrickson is a special needs student, and against rival school Norman North, her moment of playing time and made basket turned into a beautiful moment for those in attendance. According to Buzzfeed, Fredrickson is part of a program called Tiger Teammates, which was started by her teammate, senior Brennan Hockett.
The idea is simple: Give special needs students a chance to join a high school sports team.
“A lot of times the kids in high school get a bad rap, but the love was overflowing. They were all pulling for her to make that basket,” Fredrickson’s mother, Mona, told BuzzFeed. “To see the reaction from the crowd and the rival team — they were cheering her on. It was awesome.”
“The girls treat her like one of them,” Fredrickson told BuzzFeed. “The girls love her, and she loves the girls.”
The video, taken by Facebook user Michael Vanderburg, couldn’t sum it up much better.
