ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Manzano High School volleyball team is raising awareness about Lou Gehrig’s disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, after their coach was diagnosed with it.
Fred Ader is the head coach for the Manzano varsity team. People say he’s a big part of the volleyball community not just for the Monarchs, but also for Albuquerque. “He means a lot. He’s like a dad to the team. He helped us a lot, and him coming back made us want to play even more,” said Navaeh Lopez-Robles, a volleyball player for Manzano.
The school’s volleyball booster club said it has planned to honor Ader during Tuesday night’s game against La Cueva for months.
“We wanted to support him in a way that supports the greater community just like he does with us. So, we’re supporting ALS New Mexico for this event,” said Daniel Berg, the president of the Manzano Volleyball booster club.
Ader has been coaching volleyball for over 20 years, including at his own Albuquerque Rebels Volleyball Club. Just three years ago, he was diagnosed with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. There are about 30,000 people across the United States that have ALS. According to ALS New Mexico, about 90% of cases are from unknown causes and 10% are inherited.
“There’s no cure for it. A lot of people have been getting it and it’s just having no education on it, it scares people. I was scared at first,” said Fred Ader.
The boosters wanted to raise money for ALS New Mexico in his honor by selling T-shirts and other goodies. For each fundraising goal that they met, they grabbed a faculty member to be involved in the ice bucket challenge.
Ader’s wife, Patty Ader, said the game against La Cueva is special, and not just for competition reasons.
“We have former players who’s coaching for Manzano and also for La Cueva that played for us years ago, so it’s pretty neat to see the impact on their lives,” said Patty Ader.
“Hopefully everything that’s happening here today can uplift our emotions and just enjoy the day and just try to educate everybody about ALS,” said Fred Ader.
Volleyball, Ice Buckets, and lots of fun!
Story Courtesy of KOAT News 7 : https://www.koat.com/article/high-school-volleyball-team-honors-coach-with-als/62687085