![]() My group included the relentlessly happy Mikayla – she had a terrific smile, braces be damned. I know a lot of the volunteers really like to work with the younger kids, so I usually try to help the older ones who get overlooked somehow. Mighty Mike tries to group the kids not so much by age as by skill. “I got an Xbox for graduation.” We chatted a bit more – he was a lot more interested in communicating than in previous years – but he wound up in a different group than the one I was coaching. As a result, he missed a lot of Mighty Mike’s instructions, but I didn’t mind repeating them to him.įor some reason, he trusted me from the get-go – maybe because I’m a wee bit older than the average RV-er.Īnyway, he shook my hand and beamed as I told him I noticed he’d slimmed down a bit. His first year at the camp, he’d told me he wore earplugs because he couldn’t stand noise – almost any noise. As I said, I’d initiated a handshake without thinking when I saw Ben. The kids even got a surprise visit from basketball pro Matt Carroll!īut everything wasn’t familiar, even with Ben. What I really remembered, though, was the smiles. All I know is he’s a good kid who gives it his best.Īs I looked around, I saw some other kids I knew: J.J., Kyle, Kevin, Gabby, and a few others – I knew more faces but not always the names. I’m not really sure what Ben’s challenge is, and I don’t care. It’s the third year I’ve encountered Ben, but something was different this year. “Hi, Ben! Good to see you,” I said, thrusting out my hand before I thought too much about it. This is the third year I’ve volunteered to help with the event, and I didn’t have to look long to find a familiar face. But what they have in common is a desire to play basketball for a week with people who get a thrill from what they can do and don’t worry so much about what they can’t. ![]() He holds these camps for kids who have epilepsy, autism, and an assortment of other challenges, including Down’s syndrome. He vowed he’d do something about it someday.Īnd he has. Mike tells the story often of how he got sent home as a kid from a youth camp because he had an epileptic seizure. Bounce Out the Stigma is a weeklong youth basketball camp held for seven years now at Red Ventures by Mighty Mike, an enthusiastic guy not much taller than me but a lot younger and skinnier than I am.
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