COOPERSVILLE, Mich. — The gym at Coopersville Middle School is packed on a Monday night as the Broncos 8th grade "B Team" takes on Hudsonville in an Ottawa County matchup. There's a certain buzz in the air about the guy wearing the #11 jersey on the Coopersville bench.
"He's a fan favorite. You'll see that tonight," Julie Van Den Brink said about her son Tyler.
She was right. Tyler Van Den Brink has gotten a lot of attention over the last few weeks after a buzzer-beating shot he made that was caught on camera. It was quite heartwarming considering what Tyler has been through.
Tyler has a condition called multiple epiphyseal dysplasia. His dad and his brother have it too.
"It just affects the long bones of the body. It doesn't affect the skull or the ribs or the spine. It's just the the legs and the arms, and the feet and hands as well," said Tyler's dad, Joe Van Den Brink.
"There are definitely some physical challenges. We tend to do physical things a little bit slower. They can't stand for as long. Your legs just aren't built the same way as a typically developed adult or kid," he said.
Tyler's parents want him to be able to have as normal of a life as possible as he continues to grow up. For example, they want him to be able to drive a car some day without modifications, to be able to use a push mower or a shopping cart. In order to make those things a reality, Tyler has undergone several procedures.
"I've had multiple surgeries. I've had my hips rotated, because it affects the way that my hips work. It affects my arm growth. I've had my legs lengthened twice. I've had my ankles fixed, and I'm having surgery on December 28th on my arms," Tyler said.
Tyler had a calm attitude when asked him about the surgeries. But his dad paints a much different picture of the toll those procedures take on someone.
"Basically, they break the bone and slowly pull it apart, and it's as painful as it sounds," Joe said, noting that it requires months of physical therapy to recover from such a procedure.
But Tyler and his family members say those surgeries have been worth it.
"Tyler has been lengthened over eight inches on two separate surgeries, and that has really given him even more confidence, because he's of similar height to a lot of his friends now. That was cool for Tyler to be like 'Hey, look! I'm four inches taller now,'" Julie said.
Tyler has made the basketball team at Coopersville Middle School two years in a row, largely because of his work ethic.
"He's going to go after you the whole time, and he's a little fireball of energy, even though he doesn't have the skills that everybody else can have out there. But he's gonna have the heart every single day. And he's not afraid to get after guys. He yells at guys at practice, and if you're not holding yourself accountable, Tyler's going to make sure you are," said 8th grade B-Team coach Ethan Coady.
"Playing time isn't always going to be promised. Especially because we want to be safe. We don't want him being hurt in these games. So we kind of made a little agreement together and he was like, 'I'm down. I just want to be on the team, along for the ride.'"
And that brings us to the moment everyone's been talking about. Coopersville was behind and Coach Coady said the game was getting out of hand. That's when he put Tyler in the game.
"He actually got up two shots. He misses him and he's all frustrated at himself. I'm watching him. He's pounding his hands, getting upset at himself, and then the clock starts ticking down. Ten seconds. We get the rebound, we run down the court, our kid drives and he was going to shoot it himself I thought, but he kicks it back out to Tyler," Coach Coady said.
Tyler remembers what was going through his mind in that moment.
"I was like, I really hope this goes in. I'm going to be pretty mad at myself, and then I won't get another shot off again," he said.
But the shot went in as the buzzer went off. Tyler was swarmed by his joyful teammates, and even some opponents who wanted to congratulate him.
"I caught it on my phone, and as soon as I stopped recording, I screamed 'That's my baby!' I wanted the crowd to know that's my son. I am proud, and the whole crowd was proud too," Julie said.
The buzzer beater didn't change the outcome of the game, but for Tyler and his family it felt like winning a championship for the home team.
"I would say that the pride leaked out of my eyes a little bit on that one. It was so exciting to see him be successful, and to do it at the buzzer. I couldn't have been more excited," said Joe.
"If you ever come across someone with a form of dwarfism, I don't know if I would speak for everybody, but for us, it's something we have, it's not who we are. That's there's a difference in that mindset."
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