Young athletes defend cheerleader with down syndrome

after the last few days we could all use some good news and that's what the Musial Awards are all about they take place every year in st. Louis but the athletes and coaches who get the awards come from all over North America tonight in our making a difference report we travel to Wisconsin to meet three of our Award winners they stopped a basketball game to stand up to bullies there is one road you'll never find on a map of Kenosha Wisconsin easy Street well it's ordinary people doing the best they can but ordinary people can sometimes do extraordinary things Stewart Aryan Chase Vasquez and miles Rodriguez don't consider themselves anything special but their friendship is some even call them the three musketeers hi their way they usually hold court on the basketball court oh I'm like in a guard position so I like just having a game in my hand in fact for these three teenagers there's only one subject they like talking about more than hoops and that's girls and from now on there will always be one girl that will be the super glue that binds them together four fifteen-year-old Desiree Andrews the world is a stage because she has down syndrom words can sometimes fail her so she lets her music and dancing do the talking oh yeah that's why her family was thrilled when she was named to the middle school cheerleading squad I didn't really have my hopes up that she would get that opportunity and when she did I was I was just like bursting that was also a big day for three of her friends basketball players who in their own way are Desiree's cheerleaders Desiree is probably the happiest person I know she's always smiling every time I see her and those smiles must be contagious some gyms are named after players others after coaches but the gym at Lincoln Middle School became known as Dee's house she could standing ovations and cheers and you know her name the boys are playing they're focused on basketball but during one timeout they started focusing on something else like notice if I'm a guest is off to their left they noticed something wasn't right our course called timeout and during our timeout we noticed that people were bowling Desiree as Dee was cheerleading some kids were heckling we looked at it for a while to make sure like we were like seeing that correctly then three boys known better for taking shots took a stand they left the coach's huddle and walked over to the other side of the gym it happened so quickly it was like they didn't hesitate it was just like immediate they were over there and making it clear that that wasn't gonna happen anymore the kids are just looking at us like what are they doing why are they getting off the bench and then we walked up to them and then we told him to stop doing that that's not right and they just shut up it was merely three friends sticking up for another friend and though it took just a moment its had a lasting effect well I think they're their heroes right I really do made me feel good maybe think that hey I did something right hopefully the this'll set off a wave of other kids trying to do the same thing to protect those that she's not really able to protect herself back in Desiree's room plastered on the walls are posters of her favorite artists Katy Perry Taylor Swift but there's one item she cherishes more than all the others a gift from the players she calls her boys she talks about them constantly they signed a basketball four and it's that's her prized possession I just wanted to let him know as your father how much I appreciated it around here three boys with courage makes a majority we hope that people will now know that they could take a stand if it wasn't Desiree I feel somebody else I still did it because it's not right to get bullied so the next time you're in Kenosha don't bother looking for the three musketeers because their number is now up to four she'll never forget it I know none of us in my family will forget it yeah we'll remember forever those four Musketeers will be in st. Louis for the Musial Awards and so will golfing legend Arnold Palmer it all takes place on December 5th at the Peabody Opera House Cardinals manager Mike Matheny will also be there tickets available on Musial Awards dot-com you

Channel: Mike Bush

Views: 4,564,001

Rating: 4.9420524 out of 5

Keywords: Mike Bush, ksdk, musial awards, Kenosha, Desiree Andrews

Id: OxU2Zr_ly_I

Length: 6min 18sec (378 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 19 2016