He's 12 and the youngest of three children. His older brother played football for Saint Louis and his sister loves to spoil him, said Layson's mother, Debbie Aliviado.

Family activities are an important part of their lives, she said. Practically every week, there's some kind of gathering and Layson is in the thick of it.

Everything he does is "very boy," she said. The horseplay. The video games. Playing catch inside their 'Ewa home.

Layson, a brand new seventh-grader at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, is a hard worker.

"He is a real numbers person," his mother said. "He likes math and he likes stats. When it comes to reading and writing, he will procrastinate."

One of Debbie Aliviado's favorite memories from the World Series in Williamsport, Pa., happened before a game.

A pair of brothers, one of them in a wheelchair, were among the fans reaching through a chainlink fence to touch the players. But they were out of reach, too high in the stadium.

She watched Layson, the shortest boy on the team, climb the fence to reach them.