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This autistic student stayed on the sidelines of Bayside's basketball team for 4 years. Until this week.

Virginian-Pilot - 2/16/2018

Feb. 16--VIRGINIA BEACH -- Chris Sarabia launched a jumper that banged off the rim.

The crowd roared.

"Aw!"

Seconds later, he threw up another that nearly went in.

"Ohhhhhhhh!"

Then, with about 15 seconds left in Bayside's final game of the season Thursday night, Chris gave up on the long-range stuff and drove into the lane, putting up a layup that bounced around the rim before falling in.

The roar in the Marlins' home gym was deafening. Teammates, fans, even the opposition cheered. They knew this was no ordinary shot, by no ordinary high school basketball player.

Bayside senior Chris Sarabia, the team manager, scores his second basket of the season on a layup in the final game of the year. Video courtesy of Raymund Sarabia.

A senior, Chris has Asperger Syndrome, a form of autism.

He's been a manager for the team for four years, but played in only the last two games of the season. On Tuesday night he scored a layup in a loss to First Colonial, and Thursday night he scored another in a loss to Kellam.

He ends his career with four points.

Might as well be four million.

"This has been really special for him," said his dad, Raymund Sarabia.

Equally so for anybody that's ever been around him.

Bayside coach Martin Russ, a special education teacher at the Virginia Beach school, said Chris has been an inspiration.

"He has so much energy and compassion," Russ said. "Frankly, I wish more of our players had as much. He does anything and everything to help, and he's been a great motivator. I've been coaching for 23 years and I've never had anybody on one of my teams like him.

"It's good to see him move on, but it's sad, too. I don't think I'll ever have another manager who is so vested in the team."

Sarabia said his son has had a love affair with the sport for as long as he can remember.

"He's kind of been the Rudy of basketball," Sarabia said, referring to Notre Dame football player Rudy Ruettiger. Ruettiger, who had dyslexia, got to play in the final game of his senior year and recorded a quarterback sack. A movie later told his story.

"Me, his brother Francis, Chris and my dad will play basketball on Sundays, and he's always very serious and competitive. When he wins, he always comes in the house, looks at his mom, then me, and says, 'Who's your daddy now?' It's wonderful."

Chris' two-game career on the court started Tuesday in overtime against First Colonial, when the Marlins found themselves down by eight in overtime. Russ called a timeout and put him in the game with about 15 seconds left.

First Colonial coach Mark Butts told his players not to guard him. But Chris missed a long jumper and the ball went out of bounds. FC player Miles Harris inbounded the ball purposely to Chris, who missed a layup, got the rebound and put it back in.

Harris ran up the court pumping his fist in an emotional show of sportsmanship.

"He did that on his own," Butts said. "He said it was the right thing to do."

Thursday night, Kellam coach Norman Hassell, himself a special ed teacher, told his players not to guard Chris -- who was allowed to start the game on senior appreciation night.

Chris immediately launched a long jumper that skimmed the bottom of the net. He had his chance and for the next minute and a half, he had to play serious defense against the playoff-bound Knights.

"I'm always poised and focused and ready to help my team," said Chris, who was taken out of the game with 6:27 left in the first quarter and reinserted with 1:58 left to play.

Chris plans to stay involved with basketball. He's going to Tidewater Community College and hopes to eventually transfer to Old Dominion University, where he plans to study sports management.

"I'm going to be a basketball coach," he said matter-of-factly.

Three and a half minutes of action and four total points might not seem like much of a career to many.

But for Chris there never has been one more memorable.

"I love my team."

___

(c)2018 The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)

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