Noah's Dad

Owen and His Teammates after back to back 3 pointers!

Just in case you still think social media isn’t powerful, keep reading.

Owen Groesser, a high school junior who also just so happens to have been born with Down syndrome nailed not one, but two three pointers within two minutes of playing time in his first basketball game of the season.

After news broke of Owen’s epic three pointers, his friends (and fan’s) blew up twitter with the hash tag “#GetOwenOnSportsCenter.” And wouldn’t you know the very next day SportsCenter had Owen and his dad on their program!

(Here’s a picture that his friends created and shared on twitter in hopes of getting the attention of SportsCenter.)

Click play to watch the a short clip from the interview, as well as Owen nail his three pointers!

What I like even more than the three pointers is how Owen’s teammates treated him at the end of the video. They didn’t treat him as the “Down syndrome kid on the basketball team” they treated him as just another one of the guys.

Let me just tell you, as a father of a child with Down syndrome, I LOVED seeing that! Noah’s only a little over 2 years old now, but I can tell you that even know I pray for his future friends, and future acceptance. My hope is that Noah has some of the same friends that it looks like Owen has (and it’d be cool if we could sink some 3′s like Owen too!) 

My hats off to Sportscenter for taking the time to air this story. Stories like this go a long way in helping to break inaccurate stereotypes about people born with Down syndrome, and I hope we continue to see them! People with Down syndrome do a lot more than just make three pointers. They go to college, get married, become public speakers, get their drivers license, lead meaningful lives full of purpose..oh yah, and dance!

What did you think about this video, and the ESPN interview? Leave a comment and tell us about it!