Boy with Down syndrome hits home run, goes viral with adorable celebration
Here’s a story that will surely bring a smile to your face.
A boy named Billy, who has Down syndrome, hit a home run in a tee-ball game and celebrated with some sweet dance moves before crossing home plate.
Billy, from Long Island, New York, was competing in a game put on by the League of Yes, a Forest Hills, New York-based organization that holds sporting events for children with special needs.
After he smacks the ball off the tee, Billy rounds the bases, and while making his way down the third-base line, he goes through a high-five tunnel of volunteers.
⚾️ This baseball player with Down syndrome hits a home run ⚾️
😊Watch how he celebrates😊#ThursdayMotivation pic.twitter.com/acF71YSJoe
— 🦅 Eagle Wings 🦅 (@CRRJA5) May 17, 2018
But then, just before he reaches home plate, he breaks into a dance that includes “the floss,” along with several other moves, before emphatically crossing home plate.
“He’s absolutely adorable,” Kristine Fitzpatrick, who started the League of Yes in 2010, told Inside Edition.
“It was like he won the Olympics,” Fitzpatrick said. “He felt like he was the man. He just goes around now telling everyone he’s famous.”
And he is famous too, as the video has become a viral sensation on social media.
The non-competitive league is all about promoting play and having fun.
“We also want to show the world that our special-needs community needs to have play in their lives,” Fitzpatrick said, according to CBS News.
“I can tell you story after story of children’s experience of their joy to play on a team and also the confidence they have been building on and off the field,” she added.
Fitzpatrick hopes the attention from Billy’s video leads to similar leagues being formed in other parts of the country.
This video is absolutely AWESOME! Makes me smile and think of my son, Tyler, who begs me to come see him play baseball in his special needs league in Ohio all the time! Way to go Billy! Thank you Kristine! @Leagueofyesbb https://t.co/8xBqnWU8Su
— Chris Russell AKA the 🐓🐓! (@Russellmania621) May 17, 2018
“It’s been my dream to make this a national thing,” Fitzpatrick said. “The kids just want to play.”
Now that indeed is certainly a worthy goal.
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