I messaged some of the athletes in a group message and told them a story about my struggles and successes with my autism. When I told them about how I was trying out for the Men's Basketball team at FGCU. At the end, I told them if I make it, great and if I didn't, at least I gave it my 100% best to try and make it and I thanked them for being a great support and true friends.
The first person to respond was men's basketball player Christian Terrell as he said "Love you man! Go for it!"
I thought it was gonna end there because I know probably a lot of them would leave the conversation, but then the responses kept piling up.
Softball player Brittany McGuire said "Your awesome! Best fan award goes to you Patrick!" and I thought that was pretty clever.
One of the funny parts in the conversation was Josh Ko and Christian "arguing" about responding to my message and not each others text message. I thought it was funny.
Softball player Carissa Licata's response was "We appreciate everything you've done for us Patrick!! Thank you for the support throughout the season." What Carissa was talking about was my support for the FGCU Softball team's great season and how I always keep the games moving strong and the team motivated with my cheer.
Men's tennis player Andres Alfonzo gave a good response too saying,"My man!! Thanks for inspiring me and others. Thank you for your motivation and your passion in sports, it really makes a difference for us. God bless you buddy."
There were 2 responses that got me a little teary-eyed: Albert Ruiz, one of the men's soccer players said "You are such an inspiration for me, and I'm pretty sure, for everyone who's in this group. Never give up and keep working towards your goals my friend."
The other one was from women's soccer player, Kaitlin Parker gave a great example of someone she knew has autism "The best of luck to you. I grew up with one of an amazing friend who had autism as well and I just want you to know that there is no difference between you and me! You are an amazing individual and I am grateful that I was able to meet you through my sport!"
Having someone that can relate to knowing that they have a friend who has autism really touched me in a good way and to hear the many responses from my message to them really brings a lot of emotions to those athletes. Of course, not all the athletes responded to the message, which is not that big of a deal, but the ones that did respond were really touched by my story and now have lived to hear my story of my struggles and successes with autism.
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