College athletes can be an interesting breed.
Depending on the school and the sport, star athletes are spoon-fed and handed everything they need to succeed on a silver platter.
Because of this, they are generally thick-headed, ignorant and deeply embedded in the “jock lifestyle.”
Regardless of their egotistical attitudes, kids everywhere look up to them, and children suffering from life-threatening illnesses are no different.
Some would ask why we let children get caught up in obsessing over stardom at such an early age.
But once critics catch wind of college sports teams that have partnered with the two-year old, Boston-based nonprofit Team IMPACT, they’ll develop a different perspective on college athletes and the direction collegiate sports are heading.
Team IMPACT, standing for Inspire, Motivate, Play Against Challenges Together, aims at improving the lives of children who are suffering from life-threatening illnesses by attacking what they believe to be the most degrading condition: Social isolation.
It’s no secret that a little eight-year-old girl battling cancer won’t be all that popular when she returns to school after her first chemo treatment. Rather than let a young girl become socially devastated, Team IMPACT supplies kids with a sense of belonging and hope by taking their minds off of their condition.
How do they accomplish this?
By “drafting” children who are suffering from life-threatening illnesses — things like cancer, a brain tumor, or sickle cell anemia to name a few — onto college sports teams across the nation.
Once a kid is drafted, he or she receives his or her own locker and jersey, gets VIP seats at home games and gets to attend everything from team practices to social gatherings.
The children are basically adopted by a college sports team, sealing the deal by signing a letter of intent!
Perhaps the coolest part of this organization is the “foster” team, as we’ll call it, becomes emotionally attached to its new teammate and will show up at birthday parties, visit him or her in his or her hospital room and become motivated by its newest “sibling.”
The Long Island University-Brooklyn Blackbirds basketball team drafted an 8-year-old child by the name of Londell Johnson this past fall. Londell has sickle cell anemia and receives a blood transfusion once every three weeks.
The longest amount of time he has spent outside of a hospital has been a mere 2 months.
Imagine being Londell, bouncing between attending school and sitting in a hospital room when, at eight years old, all he should be worrying about is who he wants to pick next for his kickball team.
The Blackbirds changed the dynamic of Londell’s life from the confines of schoolwork and blood transfusions to cutting down the Northeast Conference championship nets after they defeated Mount St. Mary’s University a few weeks ago.
Londell says the team treats him like a little brother and they have all taught him different aspects of the game he would have otherwise never experienced — dribbling the ball between his legs, spinning the ball on his finger and teaching him to dunk — but most importantly, they help Londell forget what’s happening to him.
They make him smile.
Talk about getting involved in something remarkable.
Not only do kids such as Londell develop a sense of hope and connection by getting involved with team IMPACT, but college athletes gain a little dose of perspective as well.
With all the injuries that occur in college sports and the level of dedication and drive it takes to keep pushing to improve, having a kid around who is always smiling and loving life despite his or her circumstance, one can’t help but realize how good they really have it.
Having an “adopted” teammate could really change the dynamic of the team, alter the attitudes of self-absorbed players and serve as a sense of motivation.
Play for the kid.
It’s heartwarming that so many schools have taken to team IMPACT already. In just two years, schools such as Babson College, the College of the Holy Cross and Merrimack College all have multiple athletic teams partnering with team IMPACT.
Today, there are 250 children spread across 115 schools in 18 different states developing a sense of hope and connection, all thanks to college athletes.
Despite the clichéd “jock” label, college athletes are in fact making an amazing IMPACT.
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