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BRENTWOOD, Tenn. — A match between two middle school wrestlers was no different than usual on the surface: a person won and a person lost. But it is the story behind the match that is getting attention nationwide.
More than a week after a viral YouTube video showed the world 13-year-old Jared Stevens, who has cerebral palsy, pinning Justin Kievit, 12, during a match, the two are still getting awards and recognition. But for Justin, moving under Jared so the 13-year-old could pin him was simply the right thing to do.
"I was a little nervous," Justin told the Tennessean. "Then I kind of figured out what to do."
When the whistle blew, Justin scooted next to Jared and pulled the boy's arm over him, getting pinned. Jared's dad, Phil Stevens, caught the match — and Jared's smile afterward — on video, and put it on YouTube, where it had nearly 469,000 views as of Saturday afternoon.
Sharon Kievit, Justin's mom, caught the action from the stands and posted it on Facebook, where it has since been shared more than 123,000 times.
"It's the bigger message," Stevens said. "It's about all the people who had to give to make it happen."
Jared's coach, Clay Mayes, and Jared's parents had agreed in the past to allow Jared, who is physically the equivalent of a 6-month-old, to practice wrestling with his Sunset Middle School teammates. But one day he said he wanted something more: an actual opponent. A competitor.
Mayes asked Freedom Middle School coach Randy Stevens if Stevens, who has no relation to Jared, knew of a wrestler who would "take it seriously and know what to do," the coach told WTVF. That wrestler turned out to be Justin, who helped Jared get the word out that "you can do anything you want."
"He was ecstatic," according to Jared's teacher, John Sandella. "He has been saying things like, I don't know if I deserve all this attention, and my response to him is that people are looking to you as an example."
Since then, the two have given interviews to local and national media, and their families have been inundated with emails, calls and Facebook friend requests.
The two will receive Harlem Globetrotters Junior Phenom Awards for their sportsmanship and dedication on Jan. 13 in Nashville.
