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Jaron Ray wants to be just like Tony Gonzalez.
“I got the hands. I got the speeds. I got the body,” Ray says of Gonzalez, a tight end for the Atlanta Falcons and a former Kansas City Chiefs.
“I want to be like Tony Gonzalez – definitely. I’ve always wanted to be like him. I always wanted to break his record in the NFL.”
At 6 feet 1 inch tall, 19-year-old Ray stands out among his teammates on the Blue Springs Special Olympics flag football team. Just like typical teenage boys, Ray enjoys talking about his favorite female celebrities in between plays at practice.
“Jaron, where are we?” coach Nicholas Alexander says in a firm – yet friendly – tone at Tuesday morning’s practice. “Let’s talk about football!”
In one month, Ray and his teammates will represent Missouri as they compete at the 2010 Special Olympics USA National Games in Lincoln, Neb. The Blue Springs team was one of only eight teams nationwide selected to participate in the inaugural year of flag football at the national games.
“This is like the best team I ever had,” Ray says, leaning back with his arms wide open. “This is a miracle. Seriously.”
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“I drank too much Powerade this morning,” Joe Sewell says before the start of a 6:30 a.m. practice June 10 at Baumgardner Park in Blue Springs.
Sewell, 16, is an excited and motivated individual, even while most boys his age are still sleeping soundly, enjoying their summer vacation. He just returned from a three-day leadership camp, and his energy seems bulletproof.
“I got like every girl’s number,” Sewell says of his time at camp. “They miss me already.”
“Oh, Joe, you stud, you,” assistant coach Cathy Rice says, jokingly.
“Don’t inflate his ego any more than it already is,” Alexander, Joe’s older brother, says.
Sewell counts professional football players Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson and Tom Brady among his idols. “Victorious,” Sewell says of the opportunity to attend the national games.
“This opportunity is worth everything,” he says.
By mid-practice, the team runs conditioning drills. They pump their arms, run forward and touch one cone. Still pumping their arms, they run backward to touch a different cone. They repeat the drill throughout the course of several cones, and if one player catches up to another, the player caught must complete 10 pushups.
“It’s important to do these early in practice,” head coach Mark Haley calls out to the players. “You guys need to get used to playing with tired legs because when you play the game, you’re going to be tired.”
Jaron Ray wants to be just like Tony Gonzalez.
“I got the hands. I got the speeds. I got the body,” Ray says of Gonzalez, a tight end for the Atlanta Falcons and a former Kansas City Chiefs.
“I want to be like Tony Gonzalez – definitely. I’ve always wanted to be like him. I always wanted to break his record in the NFL.”
At 6 feet 1 inch tall, 19-year-old Ray stands out among his teammates on the Blue Springs Special Olympics flag football team. Just like typical teenage boys, Ray enjoys talking about his favorite female celebrities in between plays at practice.
“Jaron, where are we?” coach Nicholas Alexander says in a firm – yet friendly – tone at Tuesday morning’s practice. “Let’s talk about football!”
In one month, Ray and his teammates will represent Missouri as they compete at the 2010 Special Olympics USA National Games in Lincoln, Neb. The Blue Springs team was one of only eight teams nationwide selected to participate in the inaugural year of flag football at the national games.
“This is like the best team I ever had,” Ray says, leaning back with his arms wide open. “This is a miracle. Seriously.”
–––
“I drank too much Powerade this morning,” Joe Sewell says before the start of a 6:30 a.m. practice June 10 at Baumgardner Park in Blue Springs.
Sewell, 16, is an excited and motivated individual, even while most boys his age are still sleeping soundly, enjoying their summer vacation. He just returned from a three-day leadership camp, and his energy seems bulletproof.
“I got like every girl’s number,” Sewell says of his time at camp. “They miss me already.”
“Oh, Joe, you stud, you,” assistant coach Cathy Rice says, jokingly.
“Don’t inflate his ego any more than it already is,” Alexander, Joe’s older brother, says.
Sewell counts professional football players Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson and Tom Brady among his idols. “Victorious,” Sewell says of the opportunity to attend the national games.
“This opportunity is worth everything,” he says.
By mid-practice, the team runs conditioning drills. They pump their arms, run forward and touch one cone. Still pumping their arms, they run backward to touch a different cone. They repeat the drill throughout the course of several cones, and if one player catches up to another, the player caught must complete 10 pushups.
“It’s important to do these early in practice,” head coach Mark Haley calls out to the players. “You guys need to get used to playing with tired legs because when you play the game, you’re going to be tired.”
On June 10, the guys only had to complete three repetitions of the conditioning drills. By the time they leave for the national competition, they’ll be completing seven or eight at practice, Haley says.
“Good,” Sewell replies. “I want to be able to feel the burn!”
At their June 22 practice, Haley re-emphasizes the importance of regular cardiovascular activity, whether it’s moving the lawn or running stairs.
“Guys, I’m telling you – the team that’s going to win this is the team that’s in the best shape,” he says. “I know that last drill stinks, but it’s good for you.”
Haley, a special education teacher at Blue Springs High School who also coaches Special Olympics basketball and bowling, says the athletes are often more competitively minded than regular education athletes. Though he also coaches baseball at Blue Springs High School, Haley considers his heroes all of his Special Olympics athletes, calling the national games “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for the players.
“They get upset when I cancel practice,” he says of the football team. “This is something that they’ve always wanted to do, but they’ve never had the opportunity. And now that they have the opportunity, it’s full speed ahead – there’s no quitting. Sometimes, we try to make them understand it’s just a game – it’s not life or death here.”
Sometimes, Haley says, providing constructive criticism for the athletes is a delicate balance, though he pushes them just as he would with his regular education players. In offering criticism, he begins with a positive remark, adds a piece of advice for improving and then ends with a second positive remark.
“Really, they are so competitive that I rarely have to push them,” he says, “but the bottom line is that you have to be positive with them and realize that competing is just about going your best.”
He is most excited about watching the players’ expressions at the national competition and enjoying the experience with them and the other coaches.
“This is going to be something they’re always going to remember,” Haley says. “These guys have really done a good job – it’s quite an honor for them.
“I think I learn more from them than they learn from me. I just have a greater appreciation for life. These guys don’t complain. They come out and give their best effort.”
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Ray leans on teammate James Greenwood following the completion of a successful play, singing the popular songs “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” and “Lean on Me.”
The guys occasionally call him “Chuckie,” a nickname his grandmother once gave Ray because of his wild hair that resembled the “Rugrats” cartoon character.
He happily tells the coaches and his teammates that he just started his job at McDonald’s. During warm ups at Tuesday’s practice, Ray proudly lifts up the leg of his sweatpants. He’s been lifting weights, and is anxious to show off the results.
“Have you ever seen a calf like this?” he questions his teammates. “It’s almost pure muscle – seriously.”
Ray is a natural in his role as the team comedian, rarely seen without a wide grin stretched across his face.
“Hey coach, guess what?” he calls out to Haley.
“What’s that?”
“I just saved a bunch of money by switching my car insurance to Geico!” Ray says, laughing in reference to the popular TV commercials.
Ray says all of his teammates are “his brothers,” but he most closely associates with coach Nicholas Alexander – he respects Alexander and considers him and Joe members of his family.
“When I first got on the team, he’s the one who adjusted me,” Ray says. “He taught me how to catch the ball, and I already knew how to do that, but I just needed more practice with it. He was there.”
Andrew Shaffer, a senior at Blue Springs High School, is the team’s soft-spoken leader, a contrast to Ray’s and Sewell’s outgoing styles. He leads his teammates during their conditioning laps at the end of practice. Shaffer, 19, says Special Olympics taught him about teamwork through football.
“Sports are about a team, not about yourself,” says Shaffer, who considers Jesus Christ his hero. “I’ve also learned to always try your best, no matter what.”
One more aspect, Shaffer says, smiling: “When you play sports, you’re supposed to have fun.”
And does he have fun?
“Yeah,” the boy says softly, nodding and smiling.
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The Special Olympics motto states, “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”
Physically, several of the players are limited, Haley says, “but they don’t let that get in the way. They still come out and give it their best every day.” (Team coaches say the players are far along in cognitive development and that most of their developmental issues are emotional. All but one player communicates verbally with their teammates.)
The coaches have especially emphasized the importance of a team with the players. Sometimes, some of the players have a tough time at home “and make poor choices,” according to Haley, so the coaches stress the importance of good behavior at home so the players can still attend practice and not let their teammates down.
The guys’ sportsmanship is amazing, Haley says, because “it’s about doing their best and respecting others, and I think that’s what is really cool. It’s not all about winning with these guys.”
Alexander says he knew the team needed help, and his college studies are focused on him becoming a coach. Viewing himself as a “players’ coach,” Alexander played varsity football his freshman and sophomore years in high school, but a knee injury at camp before his junior year ended his high school career.
The football players know they need each other to win, Alexander says. He isn’t nervous about the national competition – if the guys just do what they’re told and follow the plays, “they’ll win,” Alexander says.
“The last couple of months, they’ve been getting better,” he says.
“They’ve been acting more as a team. They’re playing together, and they’re not bickering as much as they used to. There are a lot less fights going on.”
Like Haley, Alexander says he learns life lessons from the athletes.
“I’m a very respectful person, and I think everybody deserves respect, but these guys just make you happy,” Alexander says. “They show you that life isn’t so bad. They really show you how to be a better person, too.”
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Ray says he’s never had an opportunity like the one presented to him through flag football. “It’s like I graduated. You graduate from high school, and you’re very proud of yourself because you graduated – you completed what you just did.”
He lowers his voice suddenly. “A lot of people thought I wasn’t gonna make it. A lot of people said I wouldn’t make it anywhere,” Ray says. “I proved them wrong.”
Ray lives in a group home. He says he was once “little, bad and out of control, but life goes on. You have to move forward.”
On his left wrist, Ray wears a light blue rubber bracelet, a present from his grandfather before his death. Though it has no message on it, Ray says the bracelet represents the sky and his grandfather’s presence in heaven.
It’s a team effort.
“I’m not doing this for myself. I’m not doing this for my mother,” Ray says. “I’m doing this for the whole team. It’s our time to shine.”
