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Posted by Sylvia on Friday, January 09, 2004 (09:56:46)
My Web Pal.com Columbia 08/01/2004
By Ron Cassie
Seven-year old Alec Chase loves playing soccer and loves his team, the under-8 Soccer Association of Columbia Black Dragons.
Like a lot kids on gameday, he will have his jersey on and be ready to go hours before it is time to leave for the field.
"If I tell him on a Saturday morning he's got a game - even if it's not until 3 p.m. - he is in his full uniform, shin guards and everything by 9 a.m.," his mom, Shari Chase, said, with a laugh.
Alec has been playing soccer for four years, the last two with largely the same group of boys, the Black Dragons. The team has been very successful, losing just one game a year ago and going a perfect 15-0 this fall under new coach Gabe Dagen. The highlight of the season was successfully defending their tournament title at the season-ending Simon Decker tournament. The victory this year came on penalty kicks in overtime.
For Alec, who is autistic, the Black Dragons - whose coaches, parents and players have taken him under their collective wing - play an extraordinary role.
"It's so important for him to be around typical peers - otherwise a child never sees how they could be or should behave," Shari Chase said. "It's important I think, too, for the other kids to realize that inside Alec, or other challenged kids, are kids like them. They have the same feelings."
Alec's mom spoke with all the team parents and Dagen before the season to make sure everyone was comfortable having Alec on the team.
Alec's motor skills are fine, but he requires attention to help stay focused and in position on the field.
Alec usually gets on the field after Black Dragons are up by a few goals in the second half.
"I would ask Alec if he wanted to go in, usually we were ahead by four or five goals, and required that unless he said, 'Yes,' he wouldn't go in," Dagen said. "Usually by then there would be a bunch of the kids crowding around, encouraging him, telling him to say, 'Yes,' say, 'Yes'."
Alec participates at practice with the help of his parents and teammates.
"He'll do our drills and mom and dad would help him, or on our one-on-one drills the kids would work with him - just like they would do with anybody else," Dagen said. "It was rewarding to help all the kids get better, to improve, including Alec, in what they were doing. The kids accepted Alec as part of the team - they didn't require much prompting."
Autism is a type of pervasive developmental disorder, which interferes with a person's ability to communicate and relate to others. It affects speech patterns and often stimulates repetitive movements or actions. It usually appears before the age of 3, but is sometimes not diagnosed until later.
Research shows that people with autism have irregular biological brain structures, the exact cause of which is unknown. Some studies show a genetic link while others point to environmental factors; some believe it stems from a of mix of the two. Others have suggested a possible link to pre-natal exposure to the rubella virus, a lack of oxygen during childbirth and mercury found in some vaccinations. Heavy metal screening is recommended for young children displaying symptoms, Shari Chase said.
Alec's mother is currently working on a campaign and program encouraging pediatricians and parents to set up and follow monthly timetables to measure a child's progress in different developmental areas.
Mark Riso, whose son, Zach, plays with Alec, has noticed a positive change in Alec. "I don't think it is necessarily because he's playing soccer," Riso said. "I think it is the socialization involved around the sport, the interaction with other kids, which is difficult for him, that has helped. The kids know he's different, but they kind of treat him like any other kid."
Alec and his teammates, all of whom attend Pointers Run Elementary School in Clarksville, capped their big year with a sleepover at the Chase house a week after the end of the season. Nearly everyone on the team made it to the party, for which Alec's parents had rented every 7-year-old's favorite: a moonbounce. Nine of the kids stayed the entire night.
"I never thought I would be, or wanted to be, a parent of a child with a disability - it never occurred to me," Shari Chase said. "But it has been a dream come true to have the Black Dragons' coaches and kids in our lives."
Alec, who sleeps with the team picture near his pillow every night, can name all of his teammates in the photo: Brady Acker, Alex Dagen, Andy Delmont, B.J. Hill, Jack Jacobs, Adam Levitt, Chase Polkow, Deion Richardson, Zach Riso, Justin Shapiro and Matthew Thompson.
He tells his mom that, "They are all my friends."
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