Overland Park ? A Johnson County sports club has changed its rules about and will allow a 36-year-old dad who uses a wheelchair to continue coaching his second-grade son’s football team without another adult standing nearby.

Merrill Staton has a neurological order called Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease which makes him fatigue rapidly and forces him to be in a wheelchair. He volunteers as a coach and statistics keeper for his 7-year-old son’s team.

The Football and Cheerleading Club of Johnson County told him this week that his presence in the wheelchair posed safety issues for the kids.

But on Friday, the club agreed to drop the rule that required Staton to have an adult work alongside him at all times during games.

The club also apologized Staton.