A page in Ben Szteliga’s eighth-grade scrapbook reads:
“My goal is to become a part of the Dartmouth High School football team next year. I will take a few months to get into shape. The steps I will take are: Make a commitment, train, run, exercise, keep trying and listen to the coaches. Never give up even if it’s hard. My goal will be worth it because I will feel proud to be a part of the team. I love football.”
by Grayson Edds from Connect Amarillo.com:
SANGER, TEXAS -- CNN -- They're not just water boys anymore. Two Texas teens are named honorary team captains of their football team.
Football season is back in Sanger, Texas, and the only thing more sure than getting sacked and sweaty in practice is seeing these two young men on the sidelines.
Blaky Pyron and Austin Waters are best friends, both going into their senior year at Sanger High.
And for the past few years, the teenagers who live with Down Syndrome have been a big part of the varsity football team. Water boys who led the team out of the tunnel every single game.
"These guys are special," said head coach Chuck Galbreath. "They have unique abilities and they live life to the fullest."
Galbreath has gone out of his way to make these kids not just feel like they're a part of the team, but be a part of the team.
"They're an inspiration for all of us, I know for me specifically," he said.
by Jeff Roberts from The Record:
The voice on the other end of the phone kept him going.
Every night Steele Divitto made the call, sitting in someone else’s house, lounging on someone else’s bed.
The former Don Bosco linebacker spent the winter back in New Jersey, chasing his dream of reaching the NFL. His two-a-day training sessions for Boston College’s March pro day had him run all morning. Lift in the afternoon. Squeeze physical therapy in between. And then he would return to the gym at 8 or 9 p.m. for one-on-one workouts.
But at the end of each grueling day, Divitto knew his older sister, Collette, was waiting to hear from him. She was born with Down syndrome, but never allows it to stop her from doing anything. So Divitto cannot allow anything to stop him.
"She’s a huge inspiration," he said. "She’s one of the most amazing people in my life. I’m so blessed to have her. I’m her biggest fan. She’s my biggest fan.
"At the end of the day, I do it for her."
by Kristie Smith from Dallas News:
Bill and Sandie Wood waited anxiously on the delivery of their son, Chase, 15 years ago. Chase’s older brother, Austin, was also excited for his younger brother to arrive.
None of them saw it coming when the doctor walked into the room and informed them that their child had Down syndrome. Down syndrome is a genetic condition that causes delays in physical and intellectual development.
“We were clueless,” Sandie said. “I had never heard of Chase’s condition. I did not realize how much help I was going to need and thought I could do it on my own but quickly realized that was not the case. Thank God for DSG — Down Syndrome Guild.”
DSG is a group of parents who help others who have children born with disabilities.
Now, 15 years later, Chase has grown to 5 feet 9 inches and is 168 pounds of athletic ability. Since his seventh-grade year, he has been a member of Rockwall ISD’s Williams Middle School Wildcat football team playing defensive tackle. His younger brother, Seth, assists and is one of his strongest supporters.
It was not easy for Chase to be a part of the team. While head coach Kip Muhl was receptive to Sandie’s proposal, he understandably was concerned about safety issues. However, after consideration, the coach agreed to allow Chase to be a Wildcat.
by Stephen Hargis from the Times Free Press:
The rain clouds that have lingered over the area much of the summer finally had lifted, and the late afternoon sun, along with the promise of a new football season, was energizing Hixson High School's players.
As more than 70 teenage boys worked through various drills, the thud of pads crashing and the chirp of a coach's whistle were prevalent for the first few minutes of practice.
Just then, after the authoritative yell of head coach Jason Fitzgerald boomed instruction, another voice could be heard giving encouragement. See video here.
Austin Clark, a 4-foot-2, 135-pound freshman lineman, and the heart and soul of this year's Wildcats, adjusted his helmet and greeted each teammate who completed the tackling drill with a fist bump, a 1,000-watt smile and an endless supply of spunk.
"Come on! Let's go!" Clark yelled.
Nodding toward the diminutive player fidgeting with an oversized jersey, Fitzgerald smiled and said, "If every kid came to practice with the same attitude that Austin has every day, we wouldn't lose a game. That kid is what's right about high school football. "He's why I love coaching at this level."
by Jonathan Oosting from MLive.com:
The Ishpeming High School football team, which capped an improbable run by winning the Division 7 state championship last weekend, isn't headed to Disney World.
Instead, the team is headed to New York City for the annual Sports Illustrated Sporstman of the Year ceremony.
The Hematites wouldn't be heading there without Eric Dompierre, a 19-year-old kicker with Down Syndrome who was almost kept off this year's team due to age limits set by the Michigan High School Athletic Association.
His father fought the inflexible rule all summer, and in August, the MHSAA finally approved a waiver allowing Eric to play this season as an extra-point specialist.
Sports Illustrated documented his inspirational story -- from the off-field drama to on-field bonds with teammates -- for its annual "underdogs" contest, allowing viewers to vote for his or other stories online.
Earlier this month, just days before they won a state championship, Ishpeming won the magazine contest, earning a trip to New York and a $25,000 grant.
Instead of flying 10 players to the December 5 awards ceremony, as originally planned, Sports Illustrated reportedly agreed to pay for a charter bus from the Upper Peninsula to New York so that the whole team can travel, and local boosters are raising additional funds for the full-team trip.
"The town has really behind this team and behind our efforts for Eric to play these last few years," Dean Dompierre told SI. "We needed signatures. We needed letters written and the town not only recruited other people from the state, but people around the country."
Eric's age-waiver wasn't the only adversity that the Hematites faced en route to their championship. Coach Jeff Olson lost his son to suicide over the summer, and the brother of starting quarterback Alex Briones died last year.
But Ishpeming overcame those hardships -- not to mention a size mismatch -- to defeate Detroit Loyola in the state championship. So much for "underdogs"
“It is amazing to see the passion, dedication and hard work of every player in the CFL. Each individual has unique abilities that help form a strong team when everyone unites and works together,” said Bryan Ray, president of DSANV.
The league was founded last year by the Down Syndrome Association of Northern Virginia and is the first football league in the Northern Virginia area serving individuals with disabilities.
In its second year, the CFL has seen a significant increase in enrollment. The Sept. 29 game had close to 40 champion players on the field, with over 30 players from Freedom High School’s football team serving as coaches and mentors to the Champion players.
In addition to the Champion players, the CFL has added cheerleading to their games this season. There were six Champion Cheerleaders coached by 15 Freedom High School Cheerleaders, totaling 21 cheerleaders for the game on the Sept. 29. “We are thrilled to have cheerleading at all of the CFL games this season. Their excitement and team spirit really inspires the crowd to show even more support for all of the Champion players,” Ray added.
To start off the game, each player and cheerleader made their way through the tunnel on to the field as their names were announced over the PA system. The crowd filled with nearly 100 family members, friends of the players and cheerleaders, and other onlookers, was very supportive and enthusiastic throughout the whole game.
As is the case in every CFL game, every player scored a touchdown and the score ended in a tie, making for happy teams and players on both sides.
“At DSANV, we hope that as the CFL season continues, every player and cheerleader will experience the dynamics of teamwork, sportsmanship, and leadership. Through the CFL and Champion Cheerleading, we want every participant to grow as football players, cheerleaders, and as people who will make a positive impact in their community,” Ray finished.
The CFL meets at Freedom High School in South Riding, Va. each Saturday at noon through Nov. 3.
by Shawn Windser, Detriot Free Press and Delmarvanow.com: Until last December, nothing scared Dean Dompierre more than the thought of speaking in public. If this seems odd for a man who teaches science and social studies to fifth-graders, well, Dompierre understands. He’s equally baffled. Still, Dompierre knew that if he were going to have any chance to convince the Michigan High School Athletic Association to change its rules to allow his son to play football during his senior year, he would have to overcome his deepest phobia. He feared letting down his son, Eric, even more. Eric Dompierre was born with an extra copy of chromosome 21, a genetic fluke that slows cognitive function and generally stunts physical growth. Jill and Dean Dompierre worried for their son’s future when he was born with Down syndrome 19 years ago. They never imagined that one day Eric would be driving, or working, or enjoying friendships. Or playing high school football. Certainly the father never figured football would become so central to his son’s identity. But it did. And because Eric needed to be held back in his early years of elementary school, Dean knew his son would be too old to play his senior year — the MHSAA dictated that kids can’t participate in sports their senior year if they turn 19 before Sept. 1. This realization sent Dompierre on a 2-year odyssey that landed him on national television and the floor of the state Legislature, that taught him to navigate social media and to wield the power of public opinion, that expanded his world from a middle school classroom tucked in an old brick schoolhouse a few minutes from Lake Superior to the home office of the statistician of the Detroit Lions. Along the way, Dompierre and his son became local celebrities, proxies for anyone who ever tried to fight the Man. Everywhere the father turned, someone offered to help — politicians, principals, computer programmers, neighbors and fathers in communities downstate who had heard about Dompierre’s crusade and figured he was fighting for their children, too. Two weeks ago, a 5-foot-2-inch, 125-pound senior at Ishpeming High ran onto the football field with his teammates. His father and mother were in the stands, along with his grandparents on both sides and several cousins and family friends. Eric didn’t wave. Or nod. Or give his extended family any hint that he knew they were bunched up in the stands -- he is, after all, a teenager. His father didn’t mind, though. That he was on the field was enough. Dean Dompierre, 48, recently began his 26th year of teaching middle school. His father, Dave Dompierre, was a teacher, too. A couple of weeks ago on a Friday afternoon, Dean Dompierre broke down photosynthesis for a roomful of fifth-graders in Ishpeming. Outside, clouds formed overhead and Dompierre cracked the windows to let the cool, damp breeze flow in. Downstairs, in another section of the building that houses the high school and the middle school, Dompierre’s son sports his game-day jersey in study hall. Eric fit into these halls so seamlessly that he didn’t know he had Down syndrome until the ninth grade, when his father took him into their basement sauna so they could talk. Eric was playing on the freshman football team, attempting extra points. After he made his first one, a local TV station wanted to do a human interest story. Dompierre and his wife didn’t want to tell Eric he had a disability because they didn’t want to give him an excuse not to do something. But they agreed to do the story and decided it was time to tell Eric. “So we are taking a sauna … and I said, ‘Have you ever heard of Down syndrome?’ He said no. I said it’s a condition where there is an extra chromosome. “I said some people consider it a handicap. You know how sometimes for kids with Down syndrome it’s hard to catch on to things? That’s why sometimes it’s a little harder for you to catch on to things. … But once you do catch on you remember it well. You have a great memory. … That’s just the opposite of me. I can catch on to things quick, but I can’t remember them. So you and I are both in the same boat.”
by Shawn Windsor from The Detriot Free Press:
The walk from Eric Dompierre's house to the Ishpeming High School football field is less than two minutes. Out the front door, north on Main, west on Empire, into the parking lot, through the chain-link fence, onto the green grass.
It's a walk Dompierre has made hundreds of times the last three years, a walk that has helped shape his identity as he made his way through high school. On Monday morning, Dompierre made that walk again, helmet in hand, breeze at his face. His father fought for more than two years so he could keep taking the walk, so he could have a chance to play football during his senior year.
Of all the stories that began Monday as high school teams from across the state held their first football practices, perhaps none was as unique as Dompierre's.
Dompierre, who has Down syndrome, turned 19 in January. That birthday put him at odds with the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the governing body for the state's high school athletic programs that dictates no student shall compete in any athletic competition if they turn 19 before Sept. 1.
At least until Dompierre's father, Dean Dompierre, managed to convince the MHSAA and its member schools to change its bylaws and allow students with certain disabilities to apply for a waiver if they were too old. Eric Dompierre and his father got the rule changed. They applied for a waiver earlier this summer. A ruling is due Wednesday.
"We are optimistic," said the elder Dompierre, a sixth-grade elementary science teacher who has become something of a celebrity in this mining community near the shores of Lake Superior.
The opening of football season is nearly always reason for optimism. That includes places like Detroit Cass Tech, where the Public School League team aims to follow its improbable state title run last season with another this season, and at Birmingham Brother Rice, where 79-year-old coach Al Fracassa wants to cap off a marvelous career with a consecutive title.
Ishpeming High has designs on Ford Field in November, too.
The Hematites -- the nickname is taken from the mineral form of iron oxide -- lost in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs last season. The year before that, Ishpeming lost in the state title game to Hudson, 28-26.
Jeff Olson, the team's head coach, said he thinks his team has a chance to be good again, on the strength of his senior class and a football culture based on the area's mining ethos.
Olson likes football because it is hard.
"It's not for everybody," he said. "We appreciate anybody who comes out and puts in the work."
Dompierre showed effort from his first two-a-day practice three years ago as a freshman. He kept showing it during the off-season at local weight-training facilities and in his Christmas demands to his father, when he asked for a Bowflex so that he could lift and stretch in their basement.
Dompierre, a 5-foot-2, 140-pound receiver, is the shortest and smallest player on the team. Perhaps this is why he lifts and stretches and runs, as he did Monday for most of the morning and afternoon, even after practice, when a friend who took him to the prom showed up for a run.
"He's earned his place," Olson said. "He's had to keep fighting."
Last season, Dompierre got onto the field for one pass play. Mostly, his role is with special teams, which is why he spent the last hour of the morning session attempting extra points on the main football field, adjacent to the practice fields where the rest of the team scrimmaged.
Over and over Dompierre tried to kick the football through the uprights, roughly 19 yards from where he'd placed it; each time the ball ricocheting off the crossbar or knuckleballing underneath it.
"Good kick," said his dad, who was on the field to help Eric practice kicking.
The son may not entirely grasp the amount of work the father put in the last two years to give him a chance to keep playing. But he understands enough to know that his father is the reason he has a chance to keep playing. Still at this moment, like any other varsity football player, he'd rather his father not be here.
Dompierre wants to do it alone. And later tells his dad: "You are too protective. You give me too many tips."
What he really wants, of course, is for his father to watch from behind the fence, or from the stands. The son will find out later this week whether the father will keep getting that chance when the MHSAA makes its ruling on the waiver.
In the meantime, Dompierre is allowed to practice. So he will make that walk. Down the street, to the left, back to the right and out into the vast openness of possibility.
Stephen Nowak dreams big: He wants to be the quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens.The 19-year-old from Churchton, who has Down syndrome, came pretty close to living his dream Saturday, playing football on the artificial turf of Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.“This is as good as it gets,” said Stephen’s mom, Marla. “This is a lifetime memory.” Stephen was among several dozen young people with Down syndrome who got a chance to play football and cheer on the sidelines through a two-day camp sponsored by the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. The event was a first for Annapolis. On Friday, the players and cheerleaders learned fundamentals. Then, on Saturday, they got to participate in a game, complete with a professional announcer, scoreboard highlights and celebrity coaches. Stephen, who wore a white No. 7 jersey for the Dragons, said his favorite part of the game was “getting the touchdown.” His little sister Lila, 14, was the only girl on the football field, wearing 22 for the Dragons. She said the best part was running. The Nowaks’ team, the Dragons, was coached by Mike Shanahan, coach of the Washington Redskins. Across the field in blue were the Honey Badgers, coached by former Baltimore Ravens coach and current TV analyst Brian Billick. In the end, the teams tied, 35-35. Down syndrome is a genetic condition caused by an extra chromosome. Individuals affected have mild cognitive delays and physical characteristics that include slanted eyes and a flattened nose. The Global Down Syndrome Foundation, which is based in Colorado, had previously teamed up with former Denver Broncos wide receiver Ed McCaffrey for Dare to Play football and Dare to Cheer cheerleading events out west. McCaffrey enlisted the help of Shanahan, who coached him in Denver, and Billick, who coached him in college at Stanford University, to put on the Annapolis program. “This is one of the biggest blessings I’ve ever had in my life,” McCaffrey told the crowd. “We’ve had so much fun doing it in Colorado. We’re so happy to be in Annapolis to do our first one here.” Billick hopes Dare to Play and Dare to Cheer becomes an annual event in Annapolis. “This is the first time I’ve been a part of this, and I plan on doing it going forward,” said Billick, who lives on the Eastern Shore. “Hopefully we can build this event to a larger event here in Annapolis.” The football players were teamed up with players from the Naval Academy, who guided them on the field. Boys from the Severn School in Severna Park shouted encouragement from the sidelines. Navy seniors Matt Shibata of Hawaii and Jerad Fehr of Utah said they were inspired by the passion of the young players. “These kids love the game — shoot, maybe more than we do,” said Fehr, a safety. Shibata said working with children with developmental disabilities reminds him to be grateful for the abilities he has. “You learn to appreciate the things you have,” said Shibata, a wide receiver. The game was kind of managed chaos, but a happy chaos. The players ranged from pipsqueaks too small for their jerseys to teens who could run fast and throw some juke moves to evade defenders. There were as many coaches and volunteers on the field as players. Narrating the action was Chris Russell, a Redskins radio personality on ESPN 980 AM. His 10-year-old son Tyler has Down syndrome. Russell roamed the field, calling the action over the public address system. A video crew taped the event and played highlights on the end zone scoreboards. In front of the stands, the cheerleaders wore navy and orange uniforms and waved white pompoms with the help of professional cheerleaders for the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins. Greg and Lisa Custer of Arnold beamed as they watched their 17-year-old daughter, Valerie, perform with the cheerleaders. Valerie, who attends Broadneck High School, cheers with a special-needs squad sponsored by the Maryland Twisters club. But that’s a competition squad that doesn’t cheer at sports events. “Just to give her a chance to be a real cheerleader on the field, to work with professional cheerleaders — it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Lisa Custer said. Cathy Hill’s daughter, 19-year-old Victoria, also relished the chance to cheer in a big stadium. She’s also a member of the Maryland Twisters. Hill praised the professional cheerleaders for helping foster friendships among the girls and the two boys who cheered. “The biggest thing is, the kids are happy,” she said.
Stardom found Houston Berg this year, at the last place you would have expected.
Here’s what Houston did, once a week, for seven weeks: Took a handoff, found a hole, eluded grasping arms, rambled down the football field with cheers ringing in his ears.
He’d score his touchdown, then turn around and dance, transfusing the stadium in sweetness and light.
Houston, a 16-year-old member of the Saskatoon St. Joseph junior high football team, has Down syndrome.
But his head coach didn’t want him to be a water boy or an errand runner. He wanted Houston to play — to experience, in his own way, what everybody else did.
“We’re in the kid business,” said coach Al Cooney. “This is for kids. Anyone should be able to have the opportunity.”
So Cooney talked to opposing teams and they formulated a plan, with the enthusiastic approval of players across the league.
Houston lined up at tailback for two plays each game, always early in the third quarter. The first time, an opponent would tackle him. The second time, he’d find open lanes; would magically dodge would-be tacklers. Arms would reach out, grasp, find nothing but the breeze from Houston’s passing body. Defenders would fall down. The field would open up. Tears would fill his mother’s eyes as she watched from the bleachers.
He’d cross the goal-line, he’d move his body through a choreographed dance, he’d be a football hero. He didn’t notice, or care, that the clock was stopped during his two-play stint; that the chains weren’t moving.
Houston Berg was a football player, with the helmet and pads, and he’d just been tackled, then scored a touchdown, and even opponents were happy for him, and what more could a kid want? “He had quite a few touchdown dances,” noted St. Joseph middle linebacker Cassidy Skinner. “He’d practice them in gym class.”
“It was,” said Cooney, “the highest point of the games (when Houston carried the football). The peak of the action came when that was happening.
“(Opposing coaches) all talked to their players, coached them up in terms of letting Houston experience a little bit of success and failure. He’d get a touchdown, or he’d get tackled, but it was all planned. We didn’t want him to get hurt, obviously.”
Houston — whose older brothers Mitch and Carter have both played in the Western Hockey League — faithfully attended every football practice and took part in individual and skills drills. When the team scrimmaged, he’d run a few reps of the plays he’d use for the next game. The strategy usually called for him to follow his blockers up the middle, though he’d often break away and do his own thing.
Houston learned to listen quietly, without misbehaving, when the coach was talking. He learned patience. It wasn’t easy, standing on the sidelines an entire football game, just to get his two plays. When his enthusiasm waned, teammates would pick up him verbally, get him going again.
It all started with a humble request from parents Holly and Dale Berg to get Houston involved in the football program. Perhaps, the thinking went, he could fill water bottles. Or something.
“But Mr. Cooney just said, ‘Well, the only way he’s going to be part of it is if he plays,’ ” recalled Houston’s mother Holly. “I wondered if we’d bit off more than we could chew, to be honest.”
But her fears subsided when she saw how deeply the entire league bought in and she’d now like Houston to keep playing football.
Next year, the Grade 10 student plans to suit up for the junior team again. Holly doesn’t think it’s right to ask the senior squad if he can play, because those realities are different — just like she won’t ask about basketball, knowing the game’s flow would make it impossible for Houston to integrate like he did on the gridiron.
“I’m not going to ask for something that’s not doable,” she said. “I know our limitations and I don’t want it to be all about him, because that’s not what it’s for. This is everybody’s game. But it’s nice he can be part of it — still have his game, but give it to everybody.”
And she hopes Houston’s experience can show other parents, coaches and schools what can be done for kids with special needs. Some people, she says, don’t know how to relate to those with Down syndrome. But Houston likes music and roughhousing, and loves playing sports — both at his school and in Special Olympics, where he’s involved in track, basketball, swimming and soccer.
He is, says his mom, just a guy. Like the other kids in his school who are just guys.
“There’s many, many kids out there who just need someone to say, ‘Would you like to come out and play?’ ” Holly said. “Maybe it’s a little bit of work initially, but the reward is huge at the end of it.”
She’s watched Houston grow as a person since the first time teammates dressed him in pads and walked with him onto the field. He’s learned about being patient and the value of working hard at something you love. His status as a football player has aided his confidence at school.
Houston says he was scared when he ventured onto the turf for his first-ever game action.
Scared, and nervous. But he gamely took the ball from the quarterback and ran outside his comfort zone, and his life changed because of it.
Houston tells the reporter that one of many things he likes about football is wearing the pads; that they made him feel bigger.
“So you looked like a real tough football player when you were out there?” he’s asked. Houston pauses and smiles shyly.
A sense of belonging helps smooth any teen’s path through high school.
For sophomore Hannah Rogers, the West High junior varsity dance team is a spot where she feels she fits in.
Although she stays on the sideline when the team dances during halftime performances, she knows the moves and the music.
Hannah, who has Down syndrome, started practicing with the team during the summer after eighth grade, said Tracy Stanaway, the team’s coach.
She could memorize the steps, but her movements were just a bit slower than the team’s. So instead of performing, Hannah became the JV team’s manager.
“She’s got instant friends on the dance team,” Stanaway said.
Hannah calls them “my girls,” and her devotion to the team is apparent.
“She shows up at every practice, every game, every fundraiser, everything,” Stanaway said.
“I have to be there for my dance team,” Hannah said.
Before each performance, Hannah makes sure team members remove their jewelry, pull back their hair and position their uniforms securely to comply with Montana High School Association rules. During practice, if the girls are chattering, Hannah lets them know they need to quiet down.
“Sometimes they listen to her better than they listen to me,” Stanaway said.
So far, Hannah has rejected the idea of performing with the JV dance team, but she sometimes dances with them during practice sessions.
“When we’re warming up, that’s usually when a song comes on that she jumps up and dances to,” Stanaway said.
“Tonight, Tonight” is one of her favorites.
Hannah also practices with the Special Olympics dance team, which will perform this summer during the opening ceremonies at the Special Olympics Montana Summer Games.
“When I was a kid, I loved to dance and I loved to sing,” Hannah said. “It’s way fun.”
That delight comes across when she dances.
“I can just tell that she absolutely loves music and dancing and how free she can be,” Stanaway said.
Volunteering as the dance team’s manager has helped build Hannah’s confidence, said her mother, Suzanne Rogers.
“It’s opened her up. She’s more social. She knows a lot of people,” Suzanne Rogers said. “She is very comfortable in that school environment.”
Since Hannah was little, she has been friends with Joey Lucara, who was the West High football team’s manager for five years. Lucara, who also has Down syndrome, graduated in May but has remained involved with the football team.
“They still have him come on the sidelines, just to be there cheering them on,” said Joey’s mother, Lisa Lucara. “He’s kind of a sideline fixture at the games.”
Joey, who is 20, works in the shipping department at Energy Labs. A former member of the school’s cross-country team, he remains a fervent fan of all West High sports teams. At basketball games, he sometimes sells 50-50 raffle tickets for the booster club.
“He knows so many people that he can walk up in the crowd and they’ll generally buy tickets from him,” his mother said.
The pair went to TWIRP and the prom together, and Stanaway hopes to get Hannah and Joey to do a dance number together.
“There’s so much joy when she and Joey dance,” Stanaway said.
She envisions choreographing them dancing on the gym floor surrounded by the dance team.
It's playoff season for U.S. high-school football teams. When the Myrtle Beach High Seahawks beat the Hilton Head High Seahawks by a staggering 64 to 16, Hilton Head could have been upset about it. Instead, the game ended with the celebration of the teams' joint effort to see one player's dream come true.
Chip Mullen, a Hilton Head senior, has Down syndrome. It was his last game.
The Myrtle Beach coach, Mickey Wilson, swapped do-or-die football strategy for benevolent sportsmanship.
"We saw him out there and we decided to let him score" said Myrtle Beach head coach, Mickey Wilson. "We talked about it amongst our coaching staff and everyone thought it was a great idea."
Wilson told Hilton Head's team to give Mullen a handoff. Hilton Head did — and Mullen ran 75 yards, past Myrtle Beach players, into the end zone.
Mullen scored the final touchdown of Hilton Head's season.
The entire Myrtle Beach team joined Mullen and his team in the end zone to congratulate him. It wasn't Mullen's first touchdown — he scored a defensive touchdown against Berkeley earlier in the season, in a play set up by the opposition — but Wilson wanted to give him a memorable last game. And it was.
While Hilton Head still lost the game, Mullen made national headlines — and was even highlighted in an ESPN SportsCenter's Plays of the Weekend segment.
"I think it's exceptional. That kid has put in four years of total commitment to our football program," Hilton Head coach Tim Singleton said. "And now he's on SportsCenter. Not many people can say that."
As for Mullen, the excited player didn't leave the field empty-handed that night.
"He came off the field with that ball and didn't let it go," said George Mullen, Chip's father. "He took it home with him."
The Yulee High School football team calls it the "victory" formation. Every football team has one. And every football coach goes into every game hoping to use it.
It's typically the most mundane play of the game. A quarterback kneeling down. The final seconds ticking off the clock. The victory becoming official.
But it's also a play that inevitably unleashes emotions that have been building. And on many levels, that was the case two weeks ago at Jackson High School. With the Yulee Hornets leading 40-26, Coach Bobby Ramsay went over to the player wearing jersey No. 30.
"Jake," he said. "Put your helmet on."
Jacob Martin, a 5-foot-4 and 143-pound senior, slipped on his helmet. His coach helped him buckle his chin strap and put in a mouthpiece.
"What if he gets hit?" other players asked.
"Well, that's why he has pads on," Ramsay said with a smile.
Jake's sister, Hannah, and other members of the band broke into cheers, which spread into the stands.
As he ran onto the field, lining up at wide receiver near the Yulee sideline, his parents were among those standing. Through the years, Jack and Kelley Martin had been in many stands for many games. Jake's older brother, Zach, used to play linebacker for the Hornets and was in the middle of plenty of big plays. But it's safe to say none was quite like this one.
The victory formation.
The fans chanting Jake's name.
"I thought, 'Oh, my gosh. You don't even know what this means to a mom who was told different milestones wouldn't be met by him, that he probably won't be able to jump or ride a bicycle ...,' " Kelley Martin said. "And yet here's a boy who's out there because of the worth his coach sees in him - and the whole stadium recognizes that."
You undoubtedly already figured out that Jacob Martin is different from his teammates. Some of them practically were born to play football. He was born with Down syndrome. And his parents were told not to expect him to play much of anything.
But he's always been energetic and active. In a family of four kids - three boys, one girl - the two older brothers grew up playing together. And Kelley Martin swears that it wasn't until Zach got into middle school that he realized his little brother had some limitations.
Jake still doesn't see it that way.
He used to eat breakfast most mornings with Ramsay in the school cafeteria. And last year he kept telling the coach that he was going to play football. He couldn't see any reason why he wouldn't play.
He had spent quite a bit of time around the team when his brother was playing. He wore a jersey with Zach's number, stood on the sideline and helped out. When the Hornets would score, he would drop and do push-ups with the mascot.
So his dad, an English teacher at Yulee High, and Ramsay began talking. And in the spring, they went ahead and got him equipment.
"I think I was probably a little more worried than I should have been," Ramsay said before a recent practice. "When he gets out there, he really is one of the guys. They pressure him to keep up. And they'll mess with him when he spends too much time talking to the water girls."
The coach looks over at Jake, who is sitting next to him, and teases him.
"He's a fan of the water girls," he says. "I have to get on you sometimes, don't I?"
Jake grins. Hannah adds with a laugh, "Jake knows no strangers." The coach says that Jake doesn't eat breakfast with him anymore.
"Since he's become a member of the team, he blows me off and sits with the players," he says. "Initially, he was kind of a shy kid. But he's really adjusted."
To say the least. There has been a social transformation. And not just for Jake. For his teammates. Yes, he's different from them. But he's also like them.
His mother recalls a game a few weeks ago. She was sitting in the stands, watching the other boys interacting with her son. One of the star players plopped down on the bench next to him. He put his arm around Jake. She was struck by how natural it seemed, how the other player wasn't acting like Jake was scary or weird. They were just teammates, sitting together on the bench, a victory formation in a mom's playbook.
He can't run as fast, or throw a ball as far, as most of his teammates. But nobody is more animated. His pregame speeches are the stuff of Hornet lore. Ask Ramsay what Jake said in a recent one and he says, "I'm not exactly sure. It was loud, though."
When they played a game on ESPNU a few weeks ago, all of the players were asked to fill out a questionnaire. One of the questions was "Who's the funniest guy on the team?"
Without consulting each other, nearly all of them answered: Jake Martin.
At a recent practice, he's the last one out of the locker room. He charges onto the field yelling, "Come on guys! Play hard!"
He wanders off for a while, spending some time with the water girls, prompting a couple of his teammates to get on him.
"You going to strap up, Jake?" senior Jake Litecky says. "Come on buddy. Come put somebody on his back."
He ribs his teammates. They rib him back. And eventually Jake Martin does strap up, putting on a helmet which says "JLW" and "9-8-11" on the back. All of the Hornets' helmets do.
It's in memory of Jessica West, a sophomore who committed suicide. Her death shook the students, teachers, administrators and a football coach who lost his older brother to suicide. And one of the messages West wrote on her Myspace page last summer carries extra weight when you look at what is playing out on this football field.
"Don't laugh at me," she wrote. "Don't call me names; don't get pleasure from my pain; in God's eyes we're all the same; some day we'll all have perfect wings."
There are guys on the Yulee team who are blessed with arms and legs made for football. But for the ESPN game, Ramsay made Jake one of the four captains, which meant he went out to midfield for the coin toss.
The Hornets lost 49-7 to Buford, Ga., a national powerhouse. But then they went on a three-game winning streak, setting the stage for something better than a pregame ritual. The end-of-game play.
Jake was on the field for the final play against Jackson and the final two plays against Fernandina Beach. He left the field celebrating like he had won the Super Bowl.
Although they lost Friday night to First Coast, his coach has dreams of figuring out a way to get No. 30 a touchdown. Maybe for senior night.
He'll be pumped up that night. So don't be surprised if Jake ends up launching into an animated pregame speech. And don't be surprised if he's surrounded by a bunch of teammates who are feeding off his enthusiasm, not only accepting his differences, but embracing them.
