COMMENTARY

A Learning Experience For All

Noah Kittelson, center, counts down as Kevin Lazas, left, and Andy Turnbow, 9, a Special Olympics athlete from Huntsville, get in a three-point stance Thursday during a football clinic hosted by the Springdale High football team at the indoor field house at Springdale High School. Kittelson and Lazas, both track and field athletes at the University of Arkansas, volunteered to help at the event. The Springdale football team hosts the clinic annually for Special Olympics athletes. The team was expecting more than 300 Special Olympics athletes from around the state to participate in the event.
Noah Kittelson, center, counts down as Kevin Lazas, left, and Andy Turnbow, 9, a Special Olympics athlete from Huntsville, get in a three-point stance Thursday during a football clinic hosted by the Springdale High football team at the indoor field house at Springdale High School. Kittelson and Lazas, both track and field athletes at the University of Arkansas, volunteered to help at the event. The Springdale football team hosts the clinic annually for Special Olympics athletes. The team was expecting more than 300 Special Olympics athletes from around the state to participate in the event.

— The man in the helmet took a handoff, then ran five yards before crashing to the ground after hitting a red pad used in football drills.

He didn’t remain down long, though.

Two Springdale High football players helped him up, grabbed him by the arms and led him across a white line on the artificial turf. As soon as he cleared it, the man celebrated by spiking the ball.

But he wasn’t another football player. He instead was an Olympian.

For a few hours Thursday night, the teenagers taught the adults. Or maybe it was the other way around. Or perhaps they taught each other, with the Special Olympic athletes learning how to play football while Springdale’s players learned about life.

“It’s all about including everyone in the Special Olympics movement,” said Terri Weir, Executive Director for Special Olympics Arkansas. “And what’s not a better way than through the playing field of football?”

Busses filled with more than 300 Special Olympic athletes from across the state pulled up to Springdale’s football fieldhouse. They were set to compete the following day at their Winter Games at The Jones Center in Springdale, but first they got a tutorial on football.

They learned how to slam a tackling dummy to the ground. They ran 5-yard passing routes. And they raced Springdale safety Cua Rose, who’s one of the fastest players on the team and a nonstop ball of energy when he’s around Special Olympic athletes.

“It’s really fun because you’re coming out here for your community, supporting people that need the support,” Rose said, stopping for a moment before a new group of athletes joined him in the fieldhouse. He caught his breath and then was back to doing push-ups and back-pedaling around the turf.

Thursday wasn’t the first time Rose had worked with disabled athletes. He once ran the clock during a Special Olympics basketball game in Memphis, and it was apparent last week that he preferred being in the Bulldogs’ fieldhouse for a purpose other than the usual.

“It’s actually more fun out here than it is at workouts,” Rose said.

One Olympian was as young as 8 years old, and another was in his 60s. They came from as far as Magnolia and as close as Huntsville to compete at their Winter Games.

And while Springdale’s players showed the Olympians how to take a hit and throw a pass at a target, the Olympians showed them how to compete with medical conditions far worse than a high ankle sprain.

“We’re trying so hard to teach them to be young men and go through life, and they have an opportunity here to give back and really see some individuals that aren’t as privileged as they are,” Springdale offensive line coach Trey LaValle said.

However, LaValle wanted things to go smoother than a year ago, when his son busted his lip 20 minutes into Springdale’s night with the Special Olympic athletes. He spent the rest of the night in a hospital emergency room.

“I texted my wife. I said, ‘No hospital visits tonight, please,” LaValle said.

LaValle roamed around the fieldhouse Thursday, though he spent much of the night hanging with the deaf athletes because he knows some sign language. He learned it a few years ago after taking a class with a group of deaf people from his church in Magnolia.

Still, there were times last week when LaValle had a hard time keeping up with those athletes who could communicate in sign language much faster than he could comprehend it. But he tried.

It was a learning experience for everyone.

Alex Abrams is the assistant sports editor for NWA Media.

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