St. Petersburg, Fla. -- The Northeast boy’s basketball team is warming up for its final home game of the season. For senior Zachary Owen, this’ll be the last time he plays inside the Lee Benjamin Athletic Center. Something his dad Greg isn’t exactly thrilled about.

“It’s pretty terrible, said Greg as he laughed. “Because he enjoys it so much.”

Zachary has Down syndrome but that hasn’t stopped him from shooting his shot on the court.

“There was one game where he had two threes and two twos in one game so he had 10 points,” said Greg Owen.

“The first time a coach let him into a game in middle school, there was a part of me that got nervous that other parents were going to get upset that their kids were going to lose out on play time,” Zachary’s mom Judy said. “They were out of their seats cheering for him. It was just such a showing of community that’s really heartwarming.”

Tyler Baynard is the head coach of the Vikings and a special education teacher at Northeast. He’s seen first-hand just how impactful being a part of a team has been on Zachary’s life.

“It’s really an amazing transformation, especially to see what basketball has done for Zach,” said Baynard. “He had some behavioral issues when he was a bit younger. We were able to use basketball as a vehicle to change his behavior. In the classroom he’s held to the same standard as his teammates so it’s been really cool to see him grow into the young man that he is.”

Tyler and the Vikings have gone out of their way to make Zachary feel like one of their own. When senior night came around, Zachary was not only honored, but earned his first career start as well.

Northeast basketball has given Zachary several lifelong memories, many of which are hung up on his wall at home. Like when he drilled a three while rocking a No. 30 jersey, the same number as his favorite NBA player Steph Curry.

There are lot of unknowns when your child joins a high school sports team, especially one with special needs. But Greg says the experience that Zachary got at Northeast was one he’ll never forget.

“You never know what you’re gonna get into. You don’t know what kind of players you’ll encounter with the players, you don’t know how things are gonna workout with the coach. You don’t know how accepted he would be. So you just kind of go in and hope for the best and i think we got that at northeast high school.”