Hawks visit Schroth School for day of football and fun

The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints weren’t the only teams celebrating the Super Bowl three weeks ago. Members of the Monmouth University football team hosted their own Super Bowl day of events with students from LADACIN Network’s Schroth School in nearby Wanamassa, N.J. on Tuesday, February 2nd.

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With the day of fun based on the basics of football and the Super Bowl, six members of the Hawks football team, along with Assistant Coach Jeramy Edwards, spent the afternoon interacting and teaching students from the Schroth School the game they love. The Blue and White simulated the Super Bowl with activities based around the game including how to put the equipment on, basics on how to play the game, and even simulating a Schroth Sharks vs. Monmouth Hawks game.

The Schroth School, a school for special needs kids with developmental and physical disabilities, has held a special place in the hearts of the MU football team for a long time. The team has visited the school often to volunteer their time for such special events as the holiday shopping event that took place last December.

“{The Super Bowl event} was a great experience overall and being able to interact with members of the community is important for our program,” said Coach Edwards. “The biggest thing is seeing the looks on the {Schroth School} kids’ faces and how excited they are to see the players. Every time we work with them, it brings joy to both our players and their students.”

Members of the football team that had the pleasure of participating in this event included sophomores Mike Murphy (Toms River, N.J./Toms River East), Dorian Evans (Erial, N.J./Timber Creek), Nick Bonturi (Clarksburg, Md./Air Force Prep) and Jeremy Baltimore (Orange, N.J./Orange), junior Garrett Culloo (Ocean, N.J./Ocean) and senior Kenny Amsel (Demarest, N.J./Northern Valley Regional).

With the event being broken up into quarters, just like a game, players like Amsel especially enjoyed interacting with the kids in a segment of the day that included handing footballs off to Schroth students and having them run for touchdowns, some with the assistance of walkers or wheelchairs, while the MU players tried to tackle them.

“It is an amazing feeling knowing that just by showing up and hanging out you can brighten their day. It really is an overwhelming feeling for me,” said Amsel.

The afternoon featured several highlights for the Hawks including a halftime featuring Schroth School cheerleaders leading the school in cheers and an impromptu dance party that included all of the MU players. “The cheerleaders broke out into dancing at the halftime event. They came over and pulled me out to the dance floor. It was a lot of fun, and they could really dance!” added Amsel.

The handful of Blue and White players heard of the event through Coach Edwards and jumped aboard right away. “I found out from Bonturi (linebacker Nick Bonturi) about the event and called Coach Edwards and asked if it was alright if I tagged along,” said Culloo. “I’ve spent a bunch of Fridays swimming with the kids from the Schroth School, so I was familiar with a lot of them,” Amsel added. “Coach Edwards asked a few of us to go and I felt it was important if I had the time, so I went. It’s always a good experience for me over there. The kids always have a glow on their face when we show up with our jerseys on.”

The Super Bowl event, brainchild of Coach Edwards and Schroth School adaptive phys-ed teacher, Lynn Poggioli, brought excitement to everyone involved.

“Having the MU football team here was such a thrill for everyone at our school. You could just see it on all the children’s faces and how happy they were to have the players come visit,” said Poggioli.

In the end, the New Orleans Saints weren’t the only Super Bowl winners. All those participating in the Schroth School’s own Super Bowl fun felt a joy beyond winning the NFL’s coveted championship.

“I had a lot of fun that day and it was great to see their smiles,” said Culloo. “It was also a learning experience for us, to see how they manage everyday life at school, all the stuff they can accomplish. It definitely puts life in perspective; things that we think are difficult is nothing compared to what these kids go through daily.”

LADACIN Network (an acronym for Lifetime Assistance for Developmental and Challenging Individual Needs) is a non-profit agency whose mission is to provide education, therapeutic, social, residential and support services for people with cerebral palsy or other physical disabilities. Established in 1952, formerly known as Cerebral Palsy of Monmouth and Ocean Counties, LADACIN Network now provides lifetime assistance to over 2500 families in 11 facilities.

By Monmouth University Communications