This is a tremendous story that highlights the desire to be part of a team, just to fit in, and to experience the joy of sports. This young man, Brenden Adams, has a lot of challenges facing him in life but as this article and video demonstrate, he is taking them on with an attitude that is quite inspirational.

Kudos to his teammates, coaches, and parents for being cautious but not overly protective. And nice work by Oprah and Shaq to give Brenden a nice treat.

You can read the full article by Tom Bergeron, Rivals High Senior Editor, and see the video at http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1011697, with an excerpt below.

(Excerpt)

Big Target:  Middle-school WR checks in at 7-4

The Morgan Middle School football team in Ellensburg, Wash., doesn’t need a sheet to know when to go for the two-point conversion. It may have a sure-fire play: Just throw it to Brenden Adams.

Adams, you see, is 7-foot-4.

That’s right; the tallest teen-age boy in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records is playing football this year. In middle school.

“This is the first year my mom’s let me play,” Adams told Melissa Luck, an executive producer for KXLY4 in Spokane. “She thought I was gonna get hurt or something. It’s my favorite sport and she said this is an opportunity she didn’t want me to miss.”

Luck’s story details Adams’ growth and his love of the game.

First, his height.

He was an average newborn, measuring just over 19 inches. But by five months old, he had gained 14 pounds and had all of his teeth. At 2, he was 3-foot-5; by 5 he was 4-for-5. At ll, he was 6-foot-8. He’s now 14.

Adams gave Luck the medical explanation for his growth: “It was my 12th chromosome that broke in half and flipped over and reattached,” he said.

While his height makes strangers wonder if he’s an athlete, the truth is, his height actually holds him back as it comes with serious health problems, including enlarged joints and unusual blood counts. He already has arthritis.

“I can’t run anymore,” Adams said in the story. “I can’t be active like I used to.”

(The article continues at http://highschool.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1011697)