Three middle school basketball players in Wisconsin walked off court during a timeout to confront people in the audience who were bullying a cheerleader with Down syndrome.
Cheerleader Desiree Andrews, 14, was being picked on and basketball players Miles Rodriguez, Chase Vasquez, and Scooter Terrien decided to do something about it.
"We walked off the court and went to the bullies and told them to stop because
that's not right to be mean to another person," Rodriguez told Fox & Friends Friday.
“One of the kids stepped up and said, ‘Don’t mess with her,’” Brandon Morris, who was the boys’ seventh-grade coach last year,
told the Kenosha News. “Then all of the guys got together to show her support.”
Rodriguez, 14, told the News he remembered the game when people were bullying Andrews.
“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,” he said.
The boys’ actions made a difference in the school, and many students at Lincoln Middle School in Kenosha are stepping up to show their affection for Andrews and support her, Fox said. The school’s gym was even renamed “D’s House” to honor the girl.
In 2014, the team started including Andrews in the introduction of the starting lineup, coach David Tolefree told the News.
“They have really stepped up, almost like they are big brothers to her,” Tolefree said. “It’s good to see.”
Cliff Andrews, Desiree’s father, told the News that his daughter likes cheerleading because of “Glee” and a character on the show with Down syndrome who was a cheerleader, too.
As the story about the team’s actions in standing up for Andrews went viral, so did the warmth and admiration:
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