Students from Independence Academy became Fever players for a day

INDIANAPOLIS — On Thursday afternoon, the Indiana Fever held an introductory press conference.

"I'm pretty nervous because I'm terrible at shooting the basketball," said Maelynn Gardner.

Gardner and five of her classmates had the opportunity to sign a contract with the Indiana Fever.

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The rookies are from Independence Academy, a school for kids in grades 3-12 who are on the Autism spectrum. They fielded questions from their new teammates.

"How does it feel to be a Fever player?" asked Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell.

"It is such a blessing to be a part of this team," said Reygan Rucker, an Independence Academy student.

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The girls put pen to paper, shook hands with their new coach, Christie Sides, and had a jersey presentation.

"It was really special, we got some new players on the team today," said Fever guard Lexie Hull.

After all the introductions, the girls picked up some new gear at the team store.

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"Just seeing the smiles on their faces, seeing how excited they were kind of puts it in perspective for us. The kind of platform we have and we get to be great influences for these little girls," said Fever guard Grace Berger.