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Young Golfer Grabs ESPN Spotlight

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By RONNIE BLAIR

rblair@tampatrib.com

Published: December 4, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Matthew Ross, a Mitchell High School golf team member who is autistic, is featured in the December issue of ESPN Rise magazine, a publication that focuses on high school sports.

The article, accompanied by a photo of Matthew in his Mitchell High golfing gear, recounts how he began golfing when he was 4 after he and his mother drove by a golf course.

His mother, Susan, credits golfing with helping her son develop his vocabulary. He didn't speak his first few years of life. Soon after he became interested in golf, he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a form of autism, the article said.

Matthew gave Pasco County School Board members autographed copies of the magazine this week and thanked them for "the best education a child could ever have."

Matthew also had a few suggestions for the board members.

He urged them to consider placing autistic students in traditional classrooms, rather than an autism class.

"We are not stupid, just a little slower than most sometimes," Matthew said.

He said special-needs students also should be given the opportunity to play on regular sports teams, the way golf coach Rick Hyatt allowed him to do at Mitchell High. Ross has participated on the team for four years, though he doesn't compete in matches, the article said.

"Being just water boy or towel kid hurts a kid's self-esteem," Matthew told the school board. "Let them become part of the team."

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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