Soccer With a Kick : The Disabled Get a Team to Call Their Very Own

Kyle Corcoran, a lanky, blond 10-year-old with Down’s syndrome, has waited a long time to wear a uniform.

For years, the active youngster watched his two older brothers play team sports, winning the applause and bringing home the trophies while he sat on the sidelines. And then he watched his younger brother and sister sign up for youth sports.

A few weeks ago, it was finally Kyle’s turn, as he joined 35 other children in Orange County’s first American Youth Soccer Organization league for mentally disabled youths. It is one of only two such AYSO leagues in the country.

“He felt like a second-class citizen for quite a while,” Valene Corcoran of Laguna Hills said, as her son practiced before a recent game at Youth Athletic Park in Mission Viejo. “There wasn’t a team out there for him, but now he’s part of the mainstream and he loves it.”

Given the success of a similar program sponsored by the Little League, AYSO officials in Mission Viejo said they hope their version, called the Very Important Person program, will spread throughout Orange County. Their long-range goal is to eventually merge with AYSO’s national network of 350,000 children to help close the gap between mentally disabled and “normal” kids.

When the league kicked off in September with four teams, the first thing coaches realized was that they weren’t dealing with World Cup-class soccer.

Most of the kids had never played the game. And with the limited number of children in the program, organizers had to allow a broad range of ages, from 6 to 14, to play in the league.

But with just a few rule adjustments--such as assigning a non-disabled “buddy” to children needing a little extra help with positioning and removing the goalie to allow more scoring--the result is a game that is still essentially soccer.

“One of the great things about soccer is that it is rather basic,” said Bob Prescott, looking over the team he coaches, the Tigers, at Youth Athletic Park in Mission Viejo. “And for these kids, the basic act of putting the ball in the net means as much as it does to a so-called ‘normal’ kid.”

And maybe more, said Kathyrn Muelder, principal of the Philip Reilly School in Mission Viejo, a special education school.

“We have no idea how much society isolates (the disabled) and many of these kids have experienced loneliness and heartache from being isolated,” she said. “They feel a tremendous joy and exhilaration when they are accepted into the mainstream.”

The league also offers psychological security to the children. For instance, when the shadows of the night frighten 10-year-old Jeff Mattson, the freckle-faced redhead now crawls out of bed and pulls on his new soccer uniform. The feel of the uniform’s material on his skin and its familiar purple color comfort him, making him feel safe and banishing the bogeyman, said his mother, Carlene Mattson.

“For a mentally handicapped child to have his own uniform and team is such a special feeling for him,” said Allan Gallup, commissioner of the AYSO program in Mission Viejo. “Some of our kids put their uniforms on in the car as soon as they got them. They just don’t want to take those uniforms off.”

Mentally disabled children also badly need the traditional values of youth sports--teamwork, friendship and a sense of fun, Muelder said.

“Team sports give them the same chance to practice their adult roles,” she said. “They can experience the joy of winning a game or making a special friend. Like anyone else, they love being cheered at a game.”

But most important, youth sports for the mentally disabled help break down societal barriers against those who are different, Muelder said.

“People think of (disabled children) as being strange,” she said, “but by being part of a team, they can demystify what it means to be disabled.”

And being part of the VIP league isn’t only good for the players.

Parents who are sometimes as isolated as their children are hungry for contact with people who share the same worries and fears. At the games, they chat about school and insurance problems in between bursts of cheering for the kids.

“It really tugs at your heartstrings to be out here,” said Carlene Mattson of Laguna Hills. “We parents tend to get misty when we see our kids doing something that other people take for granted.”

League officials say that children who volunteer to be “buddies” are learning what being mentally disabled is like. And even adults who were originally skeptical about the program have had their doubts melted away by the VIP youngsters.

Prescott admits to having been one of the skeptics, but “you can’t help but get emotionally involved,” he said. “The kids are so innocent out there. When they come up to you and give you a hug, what are you going to do? Stay aloof?”

On a given Saturday, the Youth Athletic Park is a beehive of activity, with up to 10 soccer fields in use at one time.

Two weeks ago, at a field adjacent to where the VIP league was holding their games, one player bumped into another and several parents rose in indignation, screaming their displeasure as the referee called a foul.

After the game, 11 youths ran off the field victorious. The other 11 trudged away looking glum.

But on the sidelines at a game between the Panthers and the Tigers of the VIP program, the atmosphere was different as parents from both teams yelled and cheered as one small boy made a breakaway for the goal--the wrong goal.

Just before he was about to score for the other team, one of his opponents caught up, got control of the ball and took off with it--also heading in the wrong direction.

After the laughter died down, the Tigers scored a real goal and kids on both teams threw up their arms in excitement, traded high fives and hugged each other.

“They hardly ever know when they’ve won or lost. It really doesn’t matter to them,” Prescott said. “They’re just out there having fun. Now, that’s sports.”