Caleb Crockett

Super Fan: Caleb Crockett Leads the Cheering Charge for the Westfield Girls Basketball Team

Super Fan

Caleb Crockett Leads the Cheering Charge for the Westfield Girls Basketball Team

Writer / Matt Keating
Photography Provided

Caleb CrockettCaleb Crockett, 12, has become a welcome and inspiring presence at his sister Alyssa’s Westfield High School basketball games.

As Caleb, who has Down’s syndrome, cheers on Alyssa, he also gets the crowd fired up.

Caleb and Alyssa’s father, William Crockett, says Caleb knows how to put a smile on people’s faces.

“He likes to sing the national anthem, dance to the music at the games, sit with the basketball team, and cheer the players on with the cheerleaders,” William says. “He also likes to bring his backpack of WWE guys to play with. He has been in a gym or on a ball field since birth, as his two older sisters played sports, so we have lots of families that know him.”

William adds that Caleb’s popularity has grown outside of Westfield.

“There are a lot of families from opposing teams that have gotten to know him over the years, and he’s become quite well-known,” William says.

COVID-19 has limited the number of Alyssa’s games that Caleb can attend, but it has not diminished his enthusiasm for her team. He’s still there in spirit, even if he’s not physically at the games.

“People will still ask where Caleb is, if he’s not at the games,” William says.

William says the Crockett family keeps busy with various activities. Alyssa, a 16-year-old junior, is involved with Westfield High School Dance Marathon, which benefits Riley Hospital for Children, as well as National Honor Society. Caleb also stays active.

Caleb Crockett“Caleb enjoys playing with his WWE action figures, playing games on his iPad, participating in the TOPSoccer program, and doing Special Olympics bowling and track,” William says. “He also loves listening to music, and dancing along with the video game ‘Just Dance.’”

Caleb also enjoys spending time with his grandmother and great-grandmother, his older sister Aubrey, an eighth-grader at Westfield Middle School, and his younger brother Cameron, a third-grader at Washington Woods Elementary.

William says he and his family love Westfield.

“We have great schools, Grand Park and the Pacers Athletic Center, and some great community leaders,” William says.

William adds that Westfield is a great place to raise a family. He says Caleb has enjoyed all of the new friends he has met through the past several years.

“Caleb doesn’t know a stranger, and gives hugs to everyone,” William says.

William says Alyssa is leaning toward going into the medical field to work with children, after seeing Caleb undergo a few medical procedures and interacting with medical personnel at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent.

Caleb Crockett“Alyssa would eventually like to work as a physical therapist, or as an assistant,” William says. “Caleb had some kidney problems when he was younger, but he’s much better now. Alyssa was impressed with the staff at the hospital during his visits, and she thought it would be something she would really enjoy going into.”

Caleb and his family hope the Westfield girls basketball team has a good season, so he can keep cheering the team on into a longer season.

“You won’t find a more enthusiastic fan than Caleb, that’s for sure,” William says. “He gets into it, and fires up the crowd.”

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