“Focus, play smart.”

Andrew Lovgren has been saying this phrase to players on the Highland boys’ basketball team since he first came to the program as a first grader at Highland Elementary School.

Lovgren, who was born with cerebral palsy, is now a senior at Highland High School, is spending his last winter season on the Huskies’ bench, and his trademark phrase is printed across the back of the team’s warmup shirts.

When the shirts came in, Highland boys’ basketball coach Mike Milliman brought his team into the locker room with 7:30 remaining in the JV game.

There was a problem. Lovgren knew the team goes in with 6 minutes to go.

“So, he comes walking in the locker room, and I’m like, ‘get out, get out’ because the kids were getting the shirts on because I wanted to surprise him. So, he came back in with 6 minutes to go, and the kids had the shirts on, and it was a very emotional time for all of us.”

It was a special moment for Lovgren, who didn’t feel connected to anything or anyone before Milliman brought him into the program.

“It really means a lot to me to have him he really cares about me,” Lovgren said. “It really has throughout all my years. He’s always there for me. The same for the team.

They always cared about me, and they always know what I’m doing. If I’m having a bad day, they’re always picking me up. I’m always picking them up, and I feel very comfortable here with Coach.”

Cerebral palsy is the most common cause of motor disability in children, and the term describes a group of movement disorders caused by an injury in the early developing brain. When he’s out in public, Lovgren walks with two canes but can walk unaided when he is at home. He has also had several surgeries to make sure he can walk correctly without hurting his feet.

His interest in basketball goes back to his grandfather, who would take him to Saugerties boys’ basketball game. At some point, Milliman learned of his love of basketball and invited him to join the Huskies as their manager.

Lovgren felt he was not well liked because of his disability, and becoming a part of the Highland boys’ basketball program initially as the “cute little boy that led our team” introduced him to the community.

“They got to know who I was and what my personality is,” Lovgren said. “And honestly, if it wasn’t for that, I don’t even know that I’d be here in the place that I am.”

Milliman met Lovgren when teaching an adaptive physical education class at the elementary school.

“I was in the high school at the time, and I did not realize myself how much that opportunity was going to open my eyes and open me to another advancement in my life.

As Andrew says I have inspired him, he has inspired me in a similar way.”

As he got older, he became much more vital. He would remind Milliman if he forgot something or remind him of the bus time for a road game.

As a young child, he would lead the team onto the court before the game with his walker and in turn inspired some of the boys over the years.

Now, the players are his contemporaries.

“He’s just the glue that keeps it all together,” Highland junior Reid Berean said.

“He’s been here so long, and he has so much experience that he just always keeps us together.”

The glue, however, only lasts so long. Lovgren is a senior, who will graduate from Highland High School in June.

So, what’s next for “The Boy Named Andrew?” He said he plans to keep on inspiring.

“I know I want to become a basketball coach because like Coach (Milliman), I want to inspire someone like he inspired me,” Lovgren said. “I wrote my college essay on how I was born, and what I had to go through just to be alive, and be here, and to have people care about me and want me around. I want somebody else to feel the same way that Coach has made me feel.”

And not just Milliman, from the shirts to a recent alumni game on December 21, 2023, where about 30 past players came and posed for a picture with him after playing in the game.

“To have those guys come back in to show their appreciation, it really meant a lot because it showed me that I really do mean something to the program, because before Coach brought me on, I really didn’t feel like I was part of anything.”

There is one celebration planned on the Huskies’ Senior Night, scheduled for February 20 against the Saugerties Sawyers, the team Lovgren’s grandfather brought him to see all those years ago.

Milliman’s goal is for Lovgren to play in that game.

“There are going to be Saugerties people there that are well aware of Andrew,” Milliman said.

Lovgren knows that at the end of this season, his time with the program will end, as he will graduate with Josh Bishop, the team’s only senior.

The bench will be different next year.

“We’re definitely going to miss him,” Berrian said. “It’s going to be a big thing to get used to and something that the younger kids wouldn’t appreciate as much as I do because I’ve been here to see how much of an effect he’s had on everybody. It’s definitely going to be something I have to get used to, and we all wish we could have him for another year.”