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<blockquote data-quote="admin" data-source="post: 2626059" data-attributes="member: 1">It&#039;s an often used platitude that it&#039;s how a team plays the game, not that game&#039;s result, that is most important. For one Orlando-area swimmer, it&#039;s not even how he plays the game that&#039;s important. Rather, it&#039;s how he&#039;s part of a team.&nbsp;<img src="http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/editorial_image/57/5753c83640cef07e90b5c8fb632ae444/freedom_swimmer_ian_soules.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />&nbsp;As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, Ian Soules was born with autism and has struggled to cope with the condition throughout his life. As part of a series of potential coping mechanisms, <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-hs-freedom-autistic-swimmer-20111027,0,5403980.story" target="_blank">Soules tried swimming, which his mother, Celeste Sychterz-Soules, said clearly helped his social skills and general development</a>.&nbsp;&quot;Swimming makes me happy,&quot; Soules told the Sentinel. &quot;It makes me feel like I can do anything. It makes me feel important.&quot;&nbsp;That led to the Soules family&#039;s search for the best venue in which Ian Soules could swim. <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-hs-freedom-autistic-swimmer-20111027,0,5403980.story" target="_blank">What they found was an incredibly embracing Orlando (Fla.) Freedom High swim team, for which he recently swam in the 50-meter freestyle event at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 3A District 3 meet</a>.&nbsp;How embracing has the Freedom squad been? Just consider this anecdote, from Sychterz-Soules:&quot;I had several members of the team that came up to me and said, &#039;Hey, homecoming is tonight. Is Ian going to homecoming?&#039; &#039;&#039; Sychterz-Soules said. &quot;I was like, &#039;No, maybe next year.&#039; And they said, &#039;Well, why not? He needs to go to homecoming.&#039; I said, &#039;He doesn&#039;t even have a date.&#039; Then one of them said, &#039;Well, I would have asked him.&#039;

 &quot;The teenagers I have encountered both at Freedom and on this team have been nothing but mature, loving and accepting.&quot;

&nbsp;As a result, Soules has improved so significantly that <a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-hs-freedom-autistic-swimmer-20111027,0,5403980.story" target="_blank">his family is considering tracking him out of special needs classes and in to classes with the rest of the school&#039;s population</a>. That would be the ultimate accomplishment for Soules … and perhaps the his family as well.&nbsp;Needless to say, they feel that he couldn&#039;t have improved so significantly without swimming.&nbsp;&quot;He sees his teammates in school and they high-five him,&#039;&#039; Sychterz-Soules said. &quot;They eat lunch with him. They joke with him. He&#039;s just like one of the team, and as a parent, that&#039;s all I could ever hope for.&#039;&#039;&nbsp;Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit*<a href="http://highschool.rivals.com/" target="_blank">RivalsHigh</a> or connect with Prep Rally*<a href="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Prep-Rally/107871339265948?ref=ts" target="_blank">on Facebook</a> and follow us*<a href="http://twitter.com/camasmith" target="_blank">on Twitter</a>.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="admin, post: 2626059, member: 1"] It's an often used platitude that it's how a team plays the game, not that game's result, that is most important. For one Orlando-area swimmer, it's not even how he plays the game that's important. Rather, it's how he's part of a team. [IMG]http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/editorial_image/57/5753c83640cef07e90b5c8fb632ae444/freedom_swimmer_ian_soules.jpg[/IMG] As reported by the Orlando Sentinel, Ian Soules was born with autism and has struggled to cope with the condition throughout his life. As part of a series of potential coping mechanisms, [URL="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-hs-freedom-autistic-swimmer-20111027,0,5403980.story"]Soules tried swimming, which his mother, Celeste Sychterz-Soules, said clearly helped his social skills and general development[/URL]. "Swimming makes me happy," Soules told the Sentinel. "It makes me feel like I can do anything. It makes me feel important." That led to the Soules family's search for the best venue in which Ian Soules could swim. [URL="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-hs-freedom-autistic-swimmer-20111027,0,5403980.story"]What they found was an incredibly embracing Orlando (Fla.) Freedom High swim team, for which he recently swam in the 50-meter freestyle event at the Florida High School Athletic Association Class 3A District 3 meet[/URL]. How embracing has the Freedom squad been? Just consider this anecdote, from Sychterz-Soules: [INDENT]"I had several members of the team that came up to me and said, 'Hey, homecoming is tonight. Is Ian going to homecoming?' '' Sychterz-Soules said. "I was like, 'No, maybe next year.' And they said, 'Well, why not? He needs to go to homecoming.' I said, 'He doesn't even have a date.' Then one of them said, 'Well, I would have asked him.' "The teenagers I have encountered both at Freedom and on this team have been nothing but mature, loving and accepting." [/INDENT] As a result, Soules has improved so significantly that [URL="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/os-hs-freedom-autistic-swimmer-20111027,0,5403980.story"]his family is considering tracking him out of special needs classes and in to classes with the rest of the school's population[/URL]. That would be the ultimate accomplishment for Soules … and perhaps the his family as well. Needless to say, they feel that he couldn't have improved so significantly without swimming. "He sees his teammates in school and they high-five him,'' Sychterz-Soules said. "They eat lunch with him. They joke with him. He's just like one of the team, and as a parent, that's all I could ever hope for.'' [I]Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit*[URL="http://highschool.rivals.com/"]RivalsHigh[/URL] or connect with Prep Rally*[URL="http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Prep-Rally/107871339265948?ref=ts"]on Facebook[/URL] and follow us*[URL="http://twitter.com/camasmith"]on Twitter[/URL].[/I] [/QUOTE]

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