Josh Givens and his sixth-grade recreational basketball team, the Buckeyes, walked off the court big winners of the Mt. Lebanon Recreation League boys’ basketball championship game on March 21.

They may not have captured the title by the end of the contest as they lost 34-21, but they were all smiles nonetheless.  That’s because Josh’s teammates made sure to feature him during World Down Syndrome Day, in which celebrating him was at the forefront of each of their minds.

Josh, 13, has Down syndrome but is very much a typical middle school-aged boy, according to his mother Joy Givens.  Basketball and sports in general occupy much of Josh’s free time and are some of his biggest passions.

“Josh loves playing basketball every winter, and he plays in Casey’s Clubhouse (formerly Miracle League of the South Hills) for baseball,” Joy said.  “He loves playing team sports.  And he hates losing!  But he’s gotten better about it and, to be fair, his teams don’t lose very often. He really enjoys running out onto the field or onto the court with his friends, and he usually does a little dancing hop wherever he’s going because he’s so excited to be there.”

Ever the team player, Joy noted that Josh will often try to cheer up his teammates on the bench if they are down or give a teammate a hug or pat on the back if they make a great play.

It’s undoubtedly this spirit of Josh’s that made his basketball teammates want to celebrate Josh enthusiastically once they made the championship game.  The date of that game was significant because it occurred on World Down Syndrome Day.   World Down Syndrome Day came to be because that date, March 21 (3/21), matches the 3 copies of chromosome 21, which is a unique trait to people with Down syndrome. 

According to Joy, the day is designed to be a holiday that you can celebrate in lots of different ways.

“One thing that you can do is ‘rock your socks,’” Joy said.  “You can wear crazy or mismatched socks because the shape of chromosomes sort of resembles socks.  So, wearing colorful or mismatched socks is a fun way to recognize that it’s a special day.  And when we got the playoff schedule, I realized that the final game was going to be on World Down Syndrome Day, if we made it to the championship.”

And make it they did.  Along the way Josh hit a buzzer-beater as the final basket of the quarterfinal game, a feat he duplicated at the conclusion of the Buckeyes’ championship game.  When Josh’s head basketball coach Flo Angelo was approached before the championship by Joy about having the team recognize the significance of World Down Syndrome Day, she was all in favor of it.

“I was fully on board,” Angelo said.  “I thought it was a fantastic opportunity, and a very natural way to integrate a little bit of awareness into the community.  I was planning to secretly buy funky socks for the kids, but Joy kind of beat me to it. I thought it was a remarkably fun idea.”

Angelo and her husband, Jim Angelo, who was an assistant coach for the Buckeyes, both knew Josh was a special kid from the get-go.

“(Josh) brought super fun energy to the team, and my husband has said that he is literally the most popular kid in Lebo,” Flo said.  “He walks into a room, and everybody comes to him.  After practice I had to start pulling Josh away because the team that was coming next wanted to talk to him and see him, too.  He just is fun and has a lot of energy, and I think he’s a bit precocious, which helps when you’re playing and competing.  He always came with a smile and was willing to do whatever we asked of him, honestly.”

To learn more about World Down Syndrome Day, visit https://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/.