WICHITA, Kan. — At 12:30 p.m. when the bell rang at Hyde Elementary School while 10-year-old Tyler Cattan , who has mild cerebral palsy, was still “it” in the daily recess game. This made a record 72 consecutive days (excluding summer, holidays, weekends, snow days and indoor recess days) in which he failed to tag a fellow student.
At approximately 12:13 p.m., Cattan thought he had tagged Maria Kirk successfully. Kirk, however, was touching an exposed root of the tree designated as “base.” A brief argument commenced about the legality of the root, and Cattan quickly conceded.
“That’s how he got someone the last time,” explained Kirk. “So I made sure my foot was on the root.”
Last year, Cattan made it to 71 days before managing to tag 10-year-old David Blackburn. Blackburn had thought his foot was on the root, but he was centimeters off when Cattan touched his shoulder.
“I’m still embarrassed by it,” said Blackburn. “But I tagged him back the very next day. Still, nobody has let me forget it.”
The record will officially become 73 days if Cattan fails to tag anyone during tomorrow’s 30-minute recess session. His fellow classmates are confident that he will do it.