When Desiree Andrews, a cheerleader at a middle school in Wisconsin who has Down Syndrome, was bullied during a basketball game the players on the team decided to do something about it.
“The kids in the audience were picking on Dee, So we all stepped forward,” Chase Vazquez, a Lincoln Middle School basketball player told the TMJ news channel in America.
The players walked off the court and asked the bullies– who was calling Desiree names – to stop.
“when I heard they were talking about her like, it kind of like made me mad,” said another of the player’s, Miles Rodriguez.
The team are not to be messed with when it comes to protecting their friend.
“One of the kids stepped up and said, ‘Don’t mess with her,’” team’s former coach Brandon Morris told Kenosha News. “Then all of the guys got together to show her support.”
The team have also dubbed their gymnasium ‘D’s House’ and it’s really stuck with the team putting up a banner with the name emblazoned it.
The last home game of the season was also dedicated to Desiree, who they all call Dee, with the team chanting “Who’s house? Dee’s house!”
For Desiree, the support of her friends made her day.
“It was sweet, kind, awesome, amazing,” she told TMJ.
Now that’s true team spirit!
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