By RICKY WILSON
SportsEngine

To understand the beauty of basketball, and team sports, one only has to look at the impact it had on Connor Evans — he’s entering 7th grade at Canyon Ridge MS and he is 6-foot in bare feet. Connor uses team sports to help him overcome challenges.

At two-and-a-half years old, Connor was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified or PDD-NOS. It is a form of autism which inhibits a person’s communication and motor skills development. In addition, he also suffered from Sensory Processing Disorder, which affects how the nervous system receives, processes and responds to sensory information.

His parents, Kevin and Nicole Evans, were told that he wouldn’t be able to play team sports, but they were determined to not let that happen.

Connor was evaluated, and qualified for the Leander ISD Special Education Program, and placed in the Early Learning Environment for 20 hours per week, where he received assistance and specialized services which helped him prepare for elementary school.

When kindergarten began, Connor was mainstreamed into the normal classroom environment, but continued to receive specialized instruction two times per week. It was at this time that Connor’s parents decided to challenge what they were told and enrolled him in team sports.

“We were would not going to accept the doctor’s diagnosis,” Kevin said. “His mother and I were determined to treat Connor like a normal kid and sports are an important part of being a kid.”

At first, they tried soccer, but then quickly moved to basketball.

“Because he was so tall for his age, it was only natural to try basketball,” said his father. “Soccer just wasn’t his thing.”

The decision proved to be difficult.

“Because Connor’s brain processes information differently, the loud environment of a gym was hard on him and his senses. He would often run down the court skywriting numbers in the air with his finger as a way to cope,” Kevin said. “We could hear the whispers of people wondering what was wrong with him. It was heartbreaking.”

Despite the challenge, his parents stayed the course. In addition to the weekly team practice, his father worked with him. Connor practiced dribbling, ran laps up and down the street, sometimes with ankle weights, and played one handed catch, using a tennis ball.

“We were constantly working on fine tuning his motor skills and reprogramming his brain. It was a lot of tedious, small, incremental steps forward,” Kevin said. “Most kids practice a sport to get better, we were working on Connor’s basic motor skills. Just teaching him to tie his shoes was difficult.”

In third grade, Connor was asked to join a select team that was being put together by coach Robin Bramlette. At first hesitant, his parents agreed, after discussing his son’s challenge with the coach. It turned out to be a major turning point in Connor’s life.

“I wasn’t sure how Connor was going to respond. He was going from a single, small gym environment to playing in large, side-by-side multi-gym tournaments,” Kevin said. “It was going to push his comfort level.”

The first few tournaments were a brutal assault on Connor’s senses. He had a difficult time sitting on the bench with his team and between games, he would pace the gym, unable to settle in. The noise, energy and number of people in a multi-gym environment proved to be overstimulating for him.

“It was so painful to watch and I tried to do whatever I could to help. He was crawling out of his skin,” Kevin said. “Usually I just had to get him out of there between games, but I also knew he had to fight this challenge and figure out a way to manage, so we kept working at it. It was slow in coming, but he finally adapted.”

Now, going into the seventh grade, Connor not only intends to play CRMS football but he is also a mainstay on the T J Ford Storm (formerly known as the SFS Storm) — a nationally recognized, and sometimes ranked, travel team. He plays limited minutes, but practices weekly with the team and often travels with them. His father still keeps a precautionary eye on him, but Connor fits in well and it’s difficult to tell him apart from other players.

“It’s amazing to see how far he has come,” said coach Bramlette. “The kids love him, the parents support and cheer for him, and he has worked hard to get where he is. Not many kids could do what he has done, but it shows you the power of basketball and team sports.”

While parents and players jump teams, complain about playing time, scoring or touches, Connor’s father tends to put things more into perspective. For him, basketball isn’t about the game.

“Life’s not fair,” Kevin said. “Parents need to teach their kids that. Having Connor play basketball and fighting through all the challenges he has faced was, and continues to be, about getting him ready to deal with life.”

He thinks that too many parents focus on the wrong things in basketball and that they need to take a step back and appreciate things a bit more.

“Basketball has taught Connor so much and he wouldn’t be the person he is today without it,” Kevin said. “I hope more parents push their kids into uncomfortable situations, like we did with Connor. The reward far outweighs the risk. This journey is not about Connor playing basketball, it never was. This has always been about preparing Connor for life, and basketball helped him do that.”