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Scott Overcomes Disorder To Help Gaither Soccer

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By MATTHEW POSTINS Tribune correspondent

Published: January 31, 2008

TAMPA - Imagine your daily commute takes you down Dale Mabry Highway. You probably take that road to your final destination without much trouble. Now imagine there are roadblocks in your way and you have to take the side roads to get there.

That's how Gavin Scott's brain works.

Scott is a key member of the Gaither soccer team (19-2-3), which plays at home tonight in the Class 6A-Region 2 quarterfinals against Sarasota Riverview (10-5-5).

He is also an honor student with a 4.0 grade-point average and is president of his senior class, despite a processing deficit disorder that makes learning more difficult.

"If you give someone something to do that has four steps, someone in Gavin's shoes may have difficulty understanding the first step, bypass the second and third steps and go right to the fourth," said his mother, Jill, a former Gaither girls soccer coach and current GHS guidance counselor.

The Scotts became aware of the problem in elementary school when Gavin had problems learning as quickly as his classmates. After diagnosing the deficit, Gavin worked with special teachers in elementary and middle school.

During middle school Gavin was in co-teach classes, in which a teacher followed him to each class to help him better understand the material.

By high school, Gavin didn't need the extra day-to-day help anymore. As a freshman he chose to take honors classes, like his older brother, who led Gaither to a final four appearance in 2004.

"It was a step up," Gavin said. "I looked at it as a challenge."

Gavin still receives allowances for his disorder, including extra times on tests. He said the quizzes some students usually breeze through require hours of study for him.

The disorder sometimes spills over onto the soccer field. He'll sometimes ask for help on a drill. But most of the time he'll hang back, watch and then mimic what his teammates are doing.

"He's had it soccer in his blood forever," Jill said.

Gavin has overcome it all to earn acceptance at the University of Tampa in the fall, where he wants to go into either newspaper or television and play soccer.

But not until Gaither's playoff run - which starts tonight - ends. And Scott hopes it will run longer than Gaither's regional semifinal loss last year.

"To go into this year and step up and do this win a district title, there weren't a lot of people that thought we could do it," Gavin said.

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