This Kid’s Over-the-Top Reaction to Scoring a Basket Will Make Your Week
A now viral video shows sportsmanship and teamwork coming together in a moment of pure joy.
A genuinely nice thing happened at a youth basketball game in West Virginia, and the internet is taking notice.
It’s about the level of play you expect from an elementary school basketball game in a school gym — lots of kids standing around and, when they get the ball, heaving it at the basket and hoping for the best.
One of the taller kids on the court, number 50, gets an offensive rebound under the basket. Instead of shooting it, he dribbles the ball over to a smaller teammate, number 0. He gives him the ball and stands behind him, helping him take an underhanded shot. It doesn’t go in, but 50 gets a pass from another teammate and tries the same thing again. The shot falls this time, and the audience erupts in cheers.
Number 0 runs down the court as jazzed as any kid has ever been jazzed, waving his hands above his head and races over to give his coaches high 5’s.
Christina Weaver posted the video. Her son, Austin, was the kid wearing number 0. He has cerebral palsy, which makes shooting the ball himself difficult. But with some help from his teammates and great sportsmanship from the other team, Austin sunk a basket, and Christina is just as excited as he is.
She expressed her thanks in the caption that accompanied the video: “Austin made a basket tonight! We’re so blessed to have so many people support him. A huge thanks to his team for always helping him and even bigger thanks to Coach Mike for EVERYTHING he’s done for Austin.”
The original video has racked up over a million views, with millions more coming from reposts on other media outlets.