Massachusetts

‘It Was an Honor': Sophomore With Asperger Syndrome Gets to Play in Team's Final Basketball Game

15-year-old Jaeden Morales, who didn't make the junior varsity team but served as team manager, was given a chance to play in final game of season

A junior varsity basketball team at a Massachusetts high school ended its season recently by making a difference for its team manager.

Fifteen-year-old Jaeden Morales, a sophomore with Asperger Syndrome, is Uxbridge High's team manager. He didn’t make the JV team this season, but he still got a chance to play.

For the last game of the season, his team made sure he was one of the guys.

He received a jersey and got in the game, scoring 10 points in the last four minutes.

“Very overwhelming emotionally,” his mother Jennifer said. “That they just let him have that moment.”

Jennifer Morales knows it's not easy for her son.

“I worry about him all the time in school because he is different and he’s had issues with people picking on him before,” she said.

The game was already safely in the hands for Uxbridge over St. Bernard’s when Jaeden got the call and he hit basket after basket.

“No matter how tired I was, no matter how out of breath I was, I just kept going,” said Jaeden.

And he was nervous.

“I always ask myself one question, what would John Cena do?”

John Cena--the professional wrestler--is Jaeden’s idol and that helped calm him down.

“He would never give up,” Jaeden said.

Jaeden and his family are very grateful and thankful to the players and coaches on both teams for allowing the moment to take place.

“It was an honor to be your team manager and to play in the last game,” Jaeden said.

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